AMD adds developer tools for OpenCL platform

Debugger and task manager among developer package

AMD is looking to expand support for the OpenCL platform with the release of a new set of developer tools.

The four tools allow developers to better craft applications to support the parallel processing platform and use graphics card hardware to speed up general performance.

The update includes gDEBugger, a Visual Studio plug-in that allows developers to debug and analyse code when developing OpenCL kernels.

A task manager API, meanwhile, allows developers to manage computing tasks for multi-core computing systems. Other components include the Global Memory for Accelerators API and a Parallel Path Analyser to optimise GPU and CPU computing tasks.

"AMD is working closely with the developer community to make it easier to bring the benefits of heterogeneous computing to consumers, enabling next-generation system features like vivid video, supercomputer-like performance and enhanced battery life," said AMD Fusion Experience Program corporate vice president Manju Hegde.

"Our advanced developer tools and solutions enable a new era of parallel programming based on industry standards and focused on delivering innovative user experiences that span a variety of computing form factors."

AMD has been among the biggest backers of OpenCL, adopting the platform for use in its Fusion hardware platform. Other backers of the project include Intel, Nvidia and IBM.

Designed as an open platform for general processing over GPU tasks, OpenCL provides a framework which allows developers to use the parallel processing abilities of GPU hardware to supplement CPU hardware.