A lot of that struggling could have been avoided if the proper tools were available. For example, the compiler could automatically include two code paths - one

A lot of that struggling could have been avoided if the proper tools were available. For example, the compiler could automatically include two code paths - one AMD64, one OpenCL - and use the best one or switch between the two based on performance or runtime considerations. Language-level improvements (like what Erlang and Haskell have) could make writing parallel code much easier. I said that APUs are the future of computing not because I'm favoring parallel applications, but because boring old manufacturing constraints are making greater single-threaded performance more difficult to achieve. What we have now is about as good as it's going to get, at least until we see 3D chips or molecular nanotechnology.