Ada:Compile:Intro

Getting Started

Toolchain selection

For developing code on ada we recommend using the intel software stack (which is often referenced as a "toolchain" here at HPRC), which includes the Intel compilers (icc/icpc/ifort), the Intel Math Kernel Library (MKL), and the Intel MPI. A note for Ada Users: the Intel compilers are the only compilers able to compile programs for the Phi co-processors.

We highly recommend users select a particular toolchain and stick with modules that use it. At present, we support the following toolchains:

• intel - described above
• iomkl - which substitutes OpenMPI for Intel's MPI
• foss - which is entirely Free and Open-Source Software (GCC/OpenMPI/BLAS/LAPACK/etc)

Detailed information about each of the currently supported toolchain releases can be found on our Toolchains page.

Toolchains, like software packages on our clusters, are organized with the Modules System. You can load a toolchain with the following command:

[ netID@cluser ~]$ module load [toolchain Name]

Important Note: Do NOT mix modules from different toolchains. Remember to ALWAYS purge all modules when switching toolchains.
More information on using the Modules System can be found on our Modules System page.

Using the intel toolchain

After initializing the compiler environment, you can use the "man" command to obtain a complete list of the available compilation options for the language you plan to use. The following three commands will provide information on the C, C++, and Fortran compilers, respectively.

[ netID@cluster ~]$ man icc
[ netID@cluster ~]$ man icpc
[ netID@cluster ~]$ man ifort

Each compiler requires appropriate file name extensions. These extensions are meant to identify files with different programming language contents, thereby enabling the compiler script to hand these files to the appropriate compiling subsystem: preprocessor, compiler, linker, etc. See table below for valid extensions for each language.

Extension	Compiler	Description
.c	icc	C source code passed to the compiler.
.C, .CC, .cc, .cpp, .cxx	icpc	C++ source code passed to the compiler.
.f, .for, .ftn	ifort	Fixed form Fortran source code passd to the compiler.
.fpp	ifort	Fortran fixed form source code that can be preprocessed by the Intel Fortran preprocessor fpp.
.f90	ifort	Free form Fortran 90/95 source code passed to the compiler.
.F	ifort	Fortran fixed form source code, will be passed to preprocessor (fpp) and then passed to the Fortran compiler.
.o	icc/icpc/ifort	Compiled object file--generated with the -c option--passed to the linker.

Note: The icpc command ("C++" compiler) uses the same compiler options as the icc ("C" compiler) command. Invoking the compiler using icpc compiles '.c', and '.i' files as C++. Invoking the compiler using icc compiles '.c' and '.i' files as C. Using icpc always links in C++ libraries. Using icc only links in C++ libraries if C++ source is provided on the command line.