COMPILER RALLY

The interim version 8.1 of the Intel C++ Compiler (ICC) [1] introduced the AMD64/ x86-64 architecture (EM64T for Intel). Version 9 is a full-fledged major release with new extensions and optimizations [2]. As in previous versions, the compiler can handle the IA-32, x86-64, and Intel Itanium architectures. Intel’s own debugger, a code coverage tool, and the Eclipse developer environment round out the package. An assembler is additionally available for the Itanium CPU, although we will not be discussing the assembler in this article. Itanium developers have not benefited from Eclipse integration thus far. The licensing model is similar to the previous version. A non-commercial license without support is available free of charge for open source projects. Binaries created with this version cannot be sold. A license is required for commercial development. Depending on the size of the installation, you can either specify the serial number or a license file. The compiler can also use a network-based Flex license manager. The Intel C++ compiler costs about 300 Euros from distributors or about 400 US dollars from Intel.