Microsoft Visual Studio for Intel Compiler Suite

[gmortensen]

I just bought the NEW Intel Compiler Suite Professional Edition for Windows and discovered that it did not come with Microsoft Visual Studio. I have CVF, but I don't think that will work. What is the best alternative for me to be able to debug my Fortran code on Windows using the Fortran compiler that came with the Compiler Suite?

[TimP]

Quoting - gmortensen@islinc.com

I just bought the NEW Intel Compiler Suite Professional Edition for Windows and discovered that it did not come with Microsoft Visual Studio. I have CVF, but I don't think that will work. What is the best alternative for me to be able to debug my Fortran code on Windows using the Fortran compiler that came with the Compiler Suite?

If you don't want C/C++ development capability, you might swap your Compiler suite for Fortran Professional, which provides PPE (a subset of VS2005), which is sufficient for the purpose.

[Kevin_D_Intel]

CVF will not work. In addition to a debugger, you must satisfy the minimum Microsoft Visual Studio requirement for the Intel compilers as discussed in the Release notes.

Some alternatives are:

- Purchase the full version of Microsoft Visual Studio 2008. The Visual Studio debugger combined with the Intel Fortran integrations into Visual Studio offers the most functional debugging environment for Fortran. This option also offers mixed-language development and use of the Microsoft C++, Intel C++, and Intel Fortran compilers under the MSVS IDE.

- As Tim suggest, swap for the Fortran Professional version that provides the Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Premier Partner Edition. This edition also includes the Intel Fortran integrations into Visual Studio and offers use of the Visual Studio debugger for Fortran. You lose the mixed-language development option under the MSVS IDE, face a limitation on debugging where Data breakpoints are not available, and forfeit the Intel C++ compiler.

- Another alternative is to use the Intel debugger (IDB) bundled in both the Intel 10.x Fortran and C++ Windows packages you have access to with the Intel Compiler suite purchase. IDB does not offer as rich of a debugging environment that is available with the Intel Fortran Integrations into Visual Studio. You still must obtain a Microsoft Visual Studio environment for this alternative for command-line compiler development. There is a free option available for IA-32 or Intel 64 depending on your development platform. The options are discussed in the Intel Visual Fortran Release Notes.

- Another option is to use the Microsoft Windows debugging tools, specifically WinDbg, available here. This option also still requires you obtain a Microsoft Visual Studio environment for command-line compiler development. Again, refer to the Intel Visual Fortran Release Notes.

I hope those help.

[gmortensen]

Quoting - Kevin Davis (Intel)

CVF will not work. In addition to a debugger, you must satisfy the minimum Microsoft Visual Studio requirement for the Intel compilers as discussed in the Release notes.

Some alternatives are:

- Purchase the full version of Microsoft Visual Studio 2008. The Visual Studio debugger combined with the Intel Fortran integrations into Visual Studio offers the most functional debugging environment for Fortran. This option also offers mixed-language development and use of the Microsoft C++, Intel C++, and Intel Fortran compilers under the MSVS IDE.

- As Tim suggest, swap for the Fortran Professional version that provides the Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Premier Partner Edition. This edition also includes the Intel Fortran integrations into Visual Studio and offers use of the Visual Studio debugger for Fortran. You lose the mixed-language development option under the MSVS IDE, face a limitation on debugging where Data breakpoints are not available, and forfeit the Intel C++ compiler.

- Another alternative is to use the Intel debugger (IDB) bundled in both the Intel 10.x Fortran and C++ Windows packages you have access to with the Intel Compiler suite purchase. IDB does not offer as rich of a debugging environment that is available with the Intel Fortran Integrations into Visual Studio. You still must obtain a Microsoft Visual Studio environment for this alternative for command-line compiler development. There is a free option available for IA-32 or Intel 64 depending on your development platform. The options are discussed in the Intel Visual Fortran Release Notes.

- Another option is to use the Microsoft Windows debugging tools, specifically WinDbg, available here. This option also still requires you obtain a Microsoft Visual Studio environment for command-line compiler development. Again, refer to the Intel Visual Fortran Release Notes.

I hope those help.

Thanks for the helpful response.

I need the capability to debug C code since there are some C routines included with the Fortran source files. So I need both compilers and debugging from the command line (IDB) is not very productive with a Fortran code with over 200,000 source lines. So it looks like my only alternative is to but the full version of Microsoft Visual Studio 2008. Are otherversionsof MVSavailable that areless expensive, but functional, that I could user for my purposes . I don't need the data breakpoint capability. I just need the ability to set a conditional breakpoint in the source window and examine the values of variables in another window, like I do in CVF.

Why does Intel offer such a compiler package without the debugger included? Are there programmers that writeand compilecode it without needing to debug it?

[Kevin_D_Intel]

You can use Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 or 2008 with both the Intel C++ and Fortran compilers. The Intel Fortran integrations with Visual Studio mentioned earlier also work with both. The specific Microsoft Visual Studio editions one can use that we list in the Release Notes are:

- Microsoft Visual Studio 2005* Standard, Professional or Team System Edition (with C++ component installed)

- Microsoft Visual Studio 2008* Standard, Professional or Team System Edition (with C++ component installed)

I did not try, but perhaps you can still find a version of the Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Standard edition that might be cheaper than Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Standard edition.

IDB offers both a command-line and GUI interface, but again, it is feature limited in comparison to the Visual Studio debugger. We also will not be providing IDB in future Windows compiler releases starting with our upcoming 11.0 release later this year.

Technically speaking, the Intel Compiler Suite Professional Edition for Windows does provide a debugger, IDB. What it lacks to be usable as stand-alone product is the required linker and run-time libraries that the Microsoft Visual Studio environment provides. The package requires the user satisfy the minimum Microsoft Visual Studio requirement for our compilers. The Visual Studio 2005 Premier Partner Edition is not bundled with the Compiler Suite because Microsoft does not permit integration of any C++ compiler (including their own) into the IDE, thus it would only permit using Fortran from with the MSVS IDE.