intel-tbb.md

# Intel TBB

## Introduction

Intel Threading Building Blocks (Intel TBB) is a library that supports scalable parallel programming using standard ISO C++ code. It does not require special languages or compilers.  To use the library, you specify tasks, not threads, and let the library map tasks onto threads in an efficient manner. The tasks are executed by a runtime scheduler and may be offloaded to [MIC accelerator][1].

## Installed Versions

For the current list of installed versions, use:

```console
$ ml av tbb
```

The module sets up environment variables, required for linking and running TBB-enabled applications.

Link the TBB library using `-ltbb`.

## Examples

A number of examples demonstrating use of TBB and its built-in scheduler is available in the $TBB_EXAMPLES directory.

```console
$ ml intel
$ ml tbb
$ cp -a $TBB_EXAMPLES/common $TBB_EXAMPLES/parallel_reduce /tmp/
$ cd /tmp/parallel_reduce/primes
$ icc -O2 -DNDEBUG -o primes.x main.cpp primes.cpp -ltbb
$ ./primes.x
```

In this example, we compile, link, and run the primes example, demonstrating use of parallel task-based reduce in computation of prime numbers.

You will need the `tbb` module loaded to run the TBB-enabled executable. This may be avoided by compiling library search paths into the executable.

```console
$ icc -O2 -o primes.x main.cpp primes.cpp -Wl,-rpath=$LIBRARY_PATH -ltbb
```

## Further Reading

Read more on Intel [website][a].

[1]: ../intel-xeon-phi-salomon.md

[a]: http://software.intel.com/sites/products/documentation/doclib/tbb_sa/help/index.htm