SIMD support in .NET: abstract and concrete vector types and operations

Abstract

This paper describes SIMD (Single Instruction Multiple Data) APIs for .NET that expose the parallel execution capabilities available on modern processors. These APIs include both platform-independent and platform-specific APIs that expose the SIMD capabilities available on the target hardware. The platform-independent APIs abstract both the element type and length of the maximum width vector available on the target hardware, while the platform-specific APIs are a more direct mapping to the target instructions. The APIs are consumable by high-level languages such as C# and F#, and the just in time compiler (JIT) for .NET translates the operations to the appropriate hardware instructions directly in the referencing method, avoiding overhead due to calls or managed/native transitions.