OpenCL (Open Computing Library)

OpenCL (Open Computing Library) is a framework for writing programs that execute across heterogeneous platforms consisting of CPUs, GPUs, and other processors. OpenCL includes a language (based on C99) for writing kernels (functions that execute on OpenCL devices), plus APIs that are used to define and then control the platforms. OpenCL provides parallel computing using task-based and data-based parallelism. It has been adopted into graphics card drivers by both AMD/ATI, which made it its sole GPGPU offering branded as Stream SDK, and Nvidia, which offers OpenCL as equal choice to its Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA) in its drivers. OpenCLs architecture shares a range of computational interfaces with both CUDA and Microsoft's competitor DirectCompute.

OpenCL gives any application access to the Graphics Processing Unit for non-graphical computing. Thus, OpenCL extends the power of the Graphics Processing Unit beyond graphics (General-purpose computing on graphics processing units). OpenCL is analogous to the open industry standards OpenGL and OpenAL, for 3D graphics and computer audio, respectively. OpenCL is managed by the non-profit technology consortium Khronos Group.