Improve Performance With Libraries

Sun Performance WorkShop Fortran provides two important library collections to increase application performance: the Sun Performance Library and the Sun Math Library.

Sun Performance Library

If you develop computationally intensive applications, such as those performing computational linear algebra and Fourier transforms, try the Sun Performance Library. You can use this library on single- or multi-processor systems, and call it from all Sun WorkShop compiler language systems.

Some of the most widely used libraries are the mathematical collections known as BLAS, LINPACK, LAPACK, FFTPACK, and VFFTPACK. While these libraries provide a multitude of functions, typically, they are not highly optimized or parallelized. The Sun Performance Library contains highly optimized versions of these libraries. With native interfaces to FORTRAN 77 and accessibility from Fortran 90, the Sun Performance Library can boost your application speed by a factor of four or more.

Sun Math Library

If you focus on compute-intensive application, you can increase performance by using the optimized math libraries provided with Sun Performance WorkShop Fortran. The libm math library bundled with the Solaris operating environment contains the functions required by the various standards to which the Solaris software conforms. Some features of the math library are:

• Single, double, and quadruple floating-point numeric formats

• Algebraic, transcendental, rounding, conversion, and random number functions

• Table-driven algorithms for maximum speed and accuracy