A quick overview of OpenMP for multi-core programming
Aaron J. Gordon · Journal of computing sciences in colleges · 2012
Computers used to have one CPU and could run one thread of execution at a time. In the last few years, computers have been built with multiple cores (multiple CPUs) with some computers using hyper-threading (where a core can run more than one thread at a time). Currently, a high-end consumer computer can be found with 12 hyper-threaded cores, having the capability of executing 24 threads simultaneously. Intel is expected to release a massively parallel chip with more than 50 cores by the end of the year. OpenMP is a technology for writing programs that make use of multiple cores.