Issues and challenges in compiling for graphics processors

Abstract

Graphics has been one of the best success stories of parallel processing. Using a unique combination of specialized hardware and aspecialized programming model, game developers routinely write high performance code using millions of threads. Each Generation of graphic processors (GPU's) delivers higher performance and is more programmable then the last. Unlike CPU's, these processors are designed from the beginning to run highly parallel programs and fit a different programming model. We would claim that a GPU is much more like a traditional supercomputer then a desktop processor.