This document specifies a collection of compiler directives, library functions, and environment variables that can be used to specify shared-memory parallelism in C and C++ programs. The functionality described in this document is collectively known as the OpenMP C/C++ Application Program Interface (API). The goal of this specification is to provide a model for parallel programming that allows a program to be portable across shared-memory architectures from different vendors. The OpenMP C/C++ API will be supported by compilers from numerous vendors. More information about OpenMP, including the OpenMP Fortran Application Program Interface, can be found at the following web site:
http://www.openmp.org
The directives, library functions, and environment variables defined in this document will allow users to create and manage parallel programs while permitting portability. The directives extend the C and C++ sequential programming model with single program multiple data (SPMD) constructs, work-sharing constructs, and synchronization constructs, and they provide support for the sharing and privatization of data. Compilers that support the OpenMP C and C++ API will include a command-line option to the compiler that activates and allows interpretation of all OpenMP compiler directives.