Compute kernel
Computing routine compiled for an accelerator / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Kernel (compute)" redirects here. For other uses, see Kernel (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Kernel (operating system).
In computing, a compute kernel is a routine compiled for high throughput accelerators (such as graphics processing units (GPUs), digital signal processors (DSPs) or field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs)), separate from but used by a main program (typically running on a central processing unit). They are sometimes called compute shaders, sharing execution units with vertex shaders and pixel shaders on GPUs, but are not limited to execution on one class of device, or graphics APIs.[1][2]