AMD has released the latest version of its x86 Open64 Compiler Suite, which extends support to Piledriver and includes a 64-bit build.

The fact that AMD has anything to do with software may come as something of a surprise, and they’re certainly never going to win the prize for the snappiest named product.

In fact, the x86 Open64 compiler isn’t AMD specific. It’s a collaboration between some commercial companies, universities and research institutes to develop compiler technology that supports both current and future x86 platforms.  The compiler can be run on any x86-based system.

AMD’s x86 Open64 Compiler Suite is AMD’s own code generation tool that has been designed with the AMD Opteron processor in mind.

The suite can be used with C, C++, or Fortran for either 32-bit or 64-bit Linux. It has support for multi-threading, and the processor support includes global optimization, vectorization, interprocedural analysis, feedback directed optimizations and loop transformations to get the best performance from each x86 processor core.

This video explains its background:

The new features in the latest version (v4.5.2) start with support for the AMD Opteron Family 15h processor ("Piledriver" core). It also includes a 64-bit build of the Open64 compiler. Other improvements include work on the advanced vectorization capability, and improved performance and functionality of LNO optimization.