Visual Fortran versus Parallel

[Bob_H_2]

Hello, 

I do not know if this is the best place to post this, but I could find one better

I am trying to find the correct fortran compiler for what I do. In the past I have always gotten the visual fortran compiler with IMSL libraries.  That said I have never really used the "visual" portion of visual fortran.  Most of what I do is computationally intense estimation algorithms and so I do not have graphs or nice user interfaces and I do not also use Visual Basic etc... Because of this, I am wondering the the Intel Parallel Studio XE Composer Edition with Rogue Wave IMSL would be a better purchase.

In addition, if I were to purchase the Intel Parallel Studio XE Composer Edition with Rogue Wave IMSL is would be an academic copy for a windows machine. So I am wondering if it would come with additional tools that would allow my estimation software (always compiled as an .exe file) to be faster while still having the same "feel" as the visual fortran compiler.

Basically, if I use is fortran and IMSL, will I notice the difference and if I learn a little more, would the Intel Parallel Studio XE Composer Edition with Rogue Wave IMSL actually be better for me, given that I have not even incorporated visual components to my program.  Finally, if I also have the Visual Studio, would I still be able to incorporate visual basic if I purchased Intel Parallel Studio XE Composer Edition with Rogue Wave IMSL (does this also come with a shell in case I do not have the Visual Studio)

Sincerely, 

Bob

[TimP]

I don't see how the user interface for Fortran and IMSL could change between separate ifort and Parallel Studio.

Visual Basic is just an option in Visual Studio installation.  Either way of getting ifort would offer Visual Studio Shell, which doesn't support Visual Basic.

[Bob_H_2]

Thanks for your response! Do you think that both Visual Fortran and the Parallel Studio will have the openMP libraries?

Bob

[TimP]

Yes, the same OpenMP library is in both versions.  It's shared between ifort and icl and I believe used by some of IMSL.

[Bob_H_2]

Last question, so based on this and the fact that my programming does not really use the "Visual" part at all.  I wouldn't notice any differences and in the future the parallel studio would provide additional options to speed up my program.  Does that sound right?

Bob

[TimP]

The VTune Amplifier component of Parallel Studio is useful for analyzing performance of your program.  However, if you find that an IMSL function is a performance obstacle, you don't have many options other than trying alternatives to IMSL.   If you are interested in running on multiple nodes, Cluster Studio is like Parallel Studio with addition of MPI.

[Bob_H_2]

I may be interested in the future, but right now it is mainly looking for ways to speed  things up on PCs. Will Cluster studio debug MPI on a windows machine?

Bob

[Steven_L_Intel1]

The "Visual" in the name primarily refers to the integration with Visual Studio. You can use the command line to build if you want, but debugging is available only inside Visual Studio. As for MPI debugging, we don't provide that. There are third-party MPI-capable debuggers such as Totalview and Allinea.