CUDA

CUDA is a parallel computing platform and application programming interface (API) model created by NVIDIA.

Description

CUDA allows software developers and software engineers to use a CUDA-enabled graphics processing unit (GPU) for general purpose processing – an approach known as GPGPU. The CUDA platform is a software layer that gives direct access to the GPU's virtual instruction set and parallel computational elements, for the execution of compute kernels.

The CUDA platform is designed to work with programming languages such as C, C++ and Fortran. This accessibility makes it easier for specialists in parallel programming to utilize GPU resources, as opposed to previous APIs like Direct3D and OpenGL, which required advanced skills in graphics programming. Also, CUDA supports programming frameworks such as OpenACC and OpenCL.

When it was first introduced by NVIDIA, the name CUDA was an acronym for Compute Unified Device Architecture, but NVIDIA subsequently dropped the use of the acronym.

See also

• OpenCL - A standard for programming a variety of platforms, including GPUs
• BrookGPU – the Stanford University graphics group's compiler
• Array programming
• Parallel computing
• Stream processing
• rCUDA – An API for computing on remote computers
• Molecular modeling on GPU
• Vulkan

External links

• CUDA @ Wikipedia