The OpenMP Application Program Interface API supports multi-platform Shared memory Multiprocessing programming for in C/C++ and Fortran on many architectures, including Unix platforms and Windows platforms.

Jointly defined by a group of major computer hardware and software vendors, OpenMP is a portable, scalable model that gives programmers a simple and flexible interface for developing parallel applications for platforms ranging from the desktop to the supercomputer.

Often a so-called mixed-mode parallel programming, using both OpenMP and MPI (Message Passing Interface), is used for programming Computer clusters.

External links:

  * http://www.openmp.org/
  * http://www.intel.com/products/software/index.htm
  * http://www.sgi.com/software/openmp/
  * http://www.sun.com/products-n-solutions/edu/events/archive/hpc/
  * http://www.ibm.com/software/awdtools/ccompilers/news/
  * http://www.cray.com/products/systems/x1/CrayX1ProductSheet_pdfonly.pdf
  * http://www.hp.com/techservers/clusters/5982-1782EN.pdf