TABLE OF CONTENTS Computers, such as those that use the Intel @ Itanium processor, cannot solve problems. They are simply machines and must be told what to do. Programmers tell computers what to do by writing sets of instructions known as computer programs or, simply, software.
This is not a book about how to program computers or the theory of computer programming. This book is about the software used to program computers configured with the Itanium processor. It is about the programming languages used by such machines, and the similarities and the differences in writing software for them. This book presumes some minimal knowledge of computers and a familiarity with at least one programming language, either C or Fortran 90.
One main goal is to show the reader that the fundamental differences between Itanium software and that written for other computers are primarily of scale, not kind in both cases, the fundamental principles of structured, modular programming are adhered to. In addition, we show the reader instances in which the internal design of the Itanium processor allows the programmer to write more efficient programs than for comparable systems.
To be proficient at writing software, programmers must understand many things; traditionally, however, they have remained insulated from the details of the internal workings of the computer. Throughout this book, we explain low-level architectural details of the Itanium processor that are relevant to creating better high-level language (HLL) programs.
The Itanium processor employs a parallel computer architecture called explicitly parallel instruction...
