In OpenCL, what is the difference between platform, context, and device?

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sandeep.ganage picture sandeep.ganage · Oct 20, 2012 · Viewed 7k times · Source

I am new to OpenCL programming. What is the difference between device, context, and platform?

Answer

Erik Smistad picture Erik Smistad · Oct 21, 2012

A platform is a specific OpenCL implementation, for instance AMD APP, NVIDIA or Intel OpenCL. A context is a platform with a set of available devices for that platform. And the devices are the actual processors (CPU, GPU etc.) that perform calculations.

So if you use the Intel platform, a valid context with this platform would include a CPU device. While if you use the NVIDIA platform, a valid context would include an NVIDIA GPU device.

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