Ikra-Cpp: A C++/CUDA DSL for Object-Oriented Programming with Structure-of-Arrays Layout

Abstract

Structure of Arrays (SOA) is a well-studied data layout technique for SIMD architectures. Previous work has shown that it can speed up applications in high-performance computing by several factors compared to a traditional Array of Structures (AOS) layout. However, most programmers are used to AOS-style programming, which is more readable and easier to maintain. We present Ikra-Cpp, an embedded DSL for object-oriented programming in C++/CUDA. Ikra-Cpp's notation is very close to standard AOS-style C++ code, but data is layed out as SOA. This gives programmers the performance benefit of SOA and the expressiveness of AOS-style object-oriented programming at the same time. Ikra-Cpp is well integrated with C++ and lets programmers use C++ notation and syntax for classes, fields, member functions, constructors and instance creation.