XL Fortran Enterprise Edition for AIX

Our latest IBM XL Fortran Enterprise Edition for AIX® V11.1 includes all of the features described on the Features and benefits page for XL Fortran, plus the following:

• At a glance - What's new for V11.1
• Optimization and performance
• Support for Vector Multimedia Extensions (VMX)
• Mathematical Acceleration Subsystem (MASS)
• Basic Linear Algebra Subprograms (BLAS)
• OpenMP API, V2.5
• Extensions to Fortran language
• i5/OS Portable Application Solutions Environment (i5/OS PASE) support

At a glance - What's new for V11.1
XL Fortran Enterprise Edition for AIX, V11 introduces the following new enhancements:

• Additional optimization options and object code tuning to support the capabilities of the latest IBM processor, the POWER6

• A new -qtune=balanced suboption that instructs the compiler to tune generated code to run optimally on a variety of processors

• Enhanced compliance with the Fortran 2003 Standard

• New compiler options and suboptions, directives, and intrinsic functions

• Recognition of, and automatic application of appropriate language level defaults, when compiling files with .f77, .f90, .f95, and .f03 filename extensions

For more information on these and other new enhancements to XL Fortran, see "What´s new for IBM XL Fortran Enterprise Edition for AIX, V11.1 ".

Optimization and performance
XL Fortran offers optimization and performance-tuning features to exploit all PowerPC systems, including the latest POWER6 hardware architecture. The -qarch and -qtune compiler options now include new suboptions to provide code tuning for the new POWER6 processors. In addition, new intrinsic functions are introduced in XL Fortran Enterprise Edition for AIX, V11.1 to add functionality and to exploit the capabilities of the new POWER6 processors.

Support for Vector Multimedia Extensions (VMX)
The compiler supports the AltiVec programming model and APIs on VMX-capable systems. You can take advantage of VMX instructions and automatic SIMD vectorization to improve program performance in high-bandwidth data processing and algorithmic-intensive applications.

Mathematical Acceleration Subsystem (MASS)
XL Fortran Enterprise Edition for AIX includes the Mathematical Acceleration Subsystem (MASS). MASS consists of libraries of tuned mathematical intrinsic functions that offer improved performance over the standard mathematical library routines, are thread-safe and support both 32-bit and 64-bit compilations in C, C++, and Fortran applications.

Basic Linear Algebra Subprograms (BLAS)
XL Fortran Enterprise Edition for AIX also includes the Basic Linear Algebra Subprograms (BLAS) set of high-performance algebraic functions. You can use these functions to perform combined matrix multiplication and addition on general matrices or their transposes.

OpenMP API Version 2.5
The OpenMP Application Programming Interface (API) is a portable, scalable programming model that provides a standard interface for developing multiplatform, shared-memory parallel applications in C, C++, and Fortran. The specification is defined by the OpenMP organization, a group of major computer hardware and software vendors, which includes IBM. XL Fortran Enterprise Edition for AIX, V11.1 complies with the latest OpenMP API Version 2.5 specification.

Extensions to Fortran language
XL Fortran Enterprise Edition for AIX implements language and compiler features to provide enhanced compliance with the Fortran 2003 Standard.

i5/OS Portable Applications Solutions Environment (i5/OS PASE) support
XL Fortran Enterprise Edition for AIX supports i5/OS™ PASE on System i™. i5/OS PASE provides a broad set of AIX interfaces in a runtime that allows many AIX binaries to execute directly on the PowerPC processors used in iSeries systems. An application running on i5/OS PASE is fully integrated with i5/OS work management, security, backup, file systems and database. You can install and use XL Fortran Enterprise Edition for AIX in an i5/OS PASE environment that includes PTF SI19860. A separate AIX system is not required.