Parallel build

Atollic TrueSTUDIO® can build the project in parallel in both unamanaged and managed build modes. This feature can shorten the build time dramatically in some cases. A parallel build is launched by spawning a number of assembler and compiler processes in parallel, each building one of the files in the project.

The illustration below outlines the differences between traditional (sequential) and parallel building:

The illustration above presents a simplified case, but shows the important conceptual differences. Actual build-time improvements may differ dependent on the project and other circumstances.

In general, parallel builds shorten build time, if:

• Projects contain many files
• Build is done on a multicore CPU
• Disk I/O is relatively slow

Parallel builds can also be of benefit on computers without a multicore CPU, as program execution (compilation) and disk I/O can generally be done at least partly in parallel on modern operating systems. I.e, when compilation of one program is waiting for disk access, another compilation can use the processor and vice versa.

The illustration below shows how total build time can be reduced using parallel builds also on a single-core CPU, as program exection and disk I/O does not need to wait for each other. The processor can be utilized for compilation to a higher degree. R is short for reading source code from disk, C is short for compiling, and W is short for writing the compiled object file to disk:

Again, the illustration presents a simplified case which is not likely to be reproduced in practice, but nevertheless it shows the conceptual solution of avoiding program execution and disk I/O to wait for each other, thus increasing CPU utilization for compilation. Practical results may vary dependent on many circumstances.

Some or all the features described on this page may not be available in all product versions. Please read the feature comparison for detailed information on what features are available in different product versions.