Intel’s oneAPI 2024 Kernel_Compiler Feature Improves LLVM

The kernel_compiler, which was first released as an experimental feature in the fully SYCL2020 compliant Intel oneAPI DPC++/C++ compiler 2024.1 is one of the new features

AoT compilation has the advantage of being easy to grasp and familiar to C++ programmers. Furthermore, it is the only choice for certain devices such as FPGAs and some GPUs

If no target devices are supplied or perhaps if an application with precompiled kernels is executed on a machine with target devices that differ from what was requested, this is SYCL default mode

First of all, you don’t have to worry about the precise target device that your kernel will operate on beforehand. It will run as long as there is one

Second, if a GPU driver has been updated to improve performance, your application will benefit from it when your kernel runs on that GPU using the new driver, saving you the trouble of recompiling it

You may access and manage the kernels that are bundled with your application using the kernel_bundle class in SYCL, which is a programmatic interface

Some SYCL users already have extensive kernel libraries in SPIR-V or OpenCL C. For those, the kernel_compiler is a very helpful extension that enables them to use those libraries rather than a last-resort tool