Intel to boost Linux programming tools

[Lawrence Love]

Intel to boost Linux programming tools 
By Stephen Shankland <mailto:stephens at cnet.com>
Staff Writer, CNET News.com 
August 22, 2001, 9:45 a.m. PT 
Intel, one of the first mainstream companies to endorse the Linux operating
system, will release programming tools Thursday to make Linux programs run
better on its chips. 
The chipmaker plans to announce compilers that translate Linux programs
written in C++ or Fortran languages into commands an Intel Pentium 4 or
Itanium chip can understand, the company said in a statement. 
Compilers are key to making sure programs can take advantage of a chip's new
features, such as those that distinguish the Pentium 4 from its
predecessors, but the design of the Itanium family relies even more heavily
than most chips on the performance of the compiler. 
The compilers will include several features
<http://www.intel.com/software/products/compilers/c50/features1.htm> already
incorporated in Intel's compilers for Windows computers, including support
for the OpenMP <http://www.openmp.org/> standard for multiprocessor
computers, the chipmaker said. 
Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel has been a backer of Linux, a clone of Unix
that's grown popular for use in servers--chiefly those based on Intel chips.
Releasing compilers helps write programs that show off Intel's chips to
their greatest advantage. 
However, the standard compiler most Linux programmers use is GCC, recently
upgraded to version 3.0 </news/0-1003-200-6321677.html>. Scientific
programmers, the chief users of the Fortran language and people who often
write their own software, are often interested in squeezing every bit of
performance possible out of a chip. 
Each Linux compiler is expected to be released in September as a $399
download or $499 CD on sale at Intel's software site
<http://www.intel.com/software/products>.





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