WOLFRAM

Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center
Wolfram Language Home Page »

CompilationTarget

✖

is an option for Compile that specifies the target runtime for the compiled function.

Details

  • CompilationTarget applies to the creation of the compiled function.
  • The following settings can be used:
  • "WVM"the Wolfram Virtual Machine
    "C"C code
  • CompilationTarget -> "WVM" creates code for the traditional Wolfram System virtual machine.
  • CompilationTarget -> "C" creates C code, which is compiled to an external machine code library and linked back into the Wolfram Language.
  • External files created when a "C" target is specified are deleted either after use or when the Wolfram System exits.
  • A suitable external C compiler is required to target C code. If one is not found, the Wolfram System will use the "WVM".
  • When either "C" or "WVM" targets are specified, the following additional settings can be used:
  • RuntimeAttributes -> Listablecompile a function with Listable attribute
    Parallelization -> Truetry using multiple threads if possible

Examples

open allclose all

Basic Examples  (3)Summary of the most common use cases

You can target C code generation from Compile:

In[1]:=1
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/04z8qdup2d6j1yie-c9ym1h
Out[1]=1

This runs the compilation using C code:

In[2]:=2
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/04z8qdup2d6j1yie-gkbxet
Out[2]=2

C code generation runs faster:

In[1]:=1
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/04z8qdup2d6j1yie-d6blo1
Out[1]=1

The default operation using the WVM runs more slowly:

In[2]:=2
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/04z8qdup2d6j1yie-e8pv6d
Out[2]=2

You can combine parallel operations with C code generation to get even faster operation:

In[1]:=1
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/04z8qdup2d6j1yie-ga9ju1
Out[1]=1

Neat Examples  (1)Surprising or curious use cases

A real-time plotting of the Mandelbrot set, the computation using a CompilationTarget of C and parallelism is fast enough to update the image in real time.

First, the compiled function to compute values:

In[1]:=1
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/04z8qdup2d6j1yie-befc1d

Now, a plot viewer to display the result and handle the interactions:

In[2]:=2
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/04z8qdup2d6j1yie-je7ul7

Now you can invoke the functions. Note that this is an image to interact with the picture you need to evaluate the commands:

In[3]:=3
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/04z8qdup2d6j1yie-gk4uwn
Out[3]=3
Wolfram Research (2010), CompilationTarget, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/CompilationTarget.html.
✖
Wolfram Research (2010), CompilationTarget, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/CompilationTarget.html.

Text

Wolfram Research (2010), CompilationTarget, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/CompilationTarget.html.

✖
Wolfram Research (2010), CompilationTarget, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/CompilationTarget.html.

CMS

Wolfram Language. 2010. "CompilationTarget." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/CompilationTarget.html.

✖
Wolfram Language. 2010. "CompilationTarget." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/CompilationTarget.html.

APA

Wolfram Language. (2010). CompilationTarget. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/CompilationTarget.html

✖
Wolfram Language. (2010). CompilationTarget. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/CompilationTarget.html

BibTeX

@misc{reference.wolfram_2025_compilationtarget, author="Wolfram Research", title="{CompilationTarget}", year="2010", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/CompilationTarget.html}", note=[Accessed: 08-July-2025 ]}

✖
@misc{reference.wolfram_2025_compilationtarget, author="Wolfram Research", title="{CompilationTarget}", year="2010", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/CompilationTarget.html}", note=[Accessed: 08-July-2025 ]}

BibLaTeX

@online{reference.wolfram_2025_compilationtarget, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={CompilationTarget}, year={2010}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/CompilationTarget.html}, note=[Accessed: 08-July-2025 ]}

✖
@online{reference.wolfram_2025_compilationtarget, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={CompilationTarget}, year={2010}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/CompilationTarget.html}, note=[Accessed: 08-July-2025 ]}