Apple Developer

OpenCL (Open Computing Language) makes it possible to tap the vast computing power in the modern graphics processor and use it in your application. OpenCL takes the power of GPUs and makes it available for general-purpose computing. No longer will GPUs be limited to graphics-intensive applications such as games and 3D modeling.

Harnessing the Power of the GPU for Your Application

OpenCL dramatically accelerates your application by giving you the ability to access the amazing parallel computing power of the GPU. OpenCL also opens up a new range of computationally complex algorithms for use in your application. Possibilities include: Using OpenCL to bring sophisticated financial modeling techniques to accounting applications, performing cutting-edge analysis on large media files, and incorporating accurate physics and AI simulation into entertainment software.

Optimization Is Automatic

OpenCL uses runtime compilation to optimize for the kind of graphics processor in the Mac — automatically adjusting itself to the available processing power. OpenCL also rigorously defines numerical precision and accuracy, providing for consistent results across a wide-variety of GPU hardware.

Just Change the Code You Need

OpenCL stands for Open Computing Language. It uses an approachable C99-based language and a flexible API for managing parallel computation. To accelerate your application, simply use Xcode to rewrite the most performance-intensive parts of your code for OpenCL. The vast majority of your application’s code can be left unchanged.

Read the OpenCL technology brief