Using C++ in a CUDA C project

Question

I am implementing a sort and stream compaction algorithms in CUDA C. However I have just figured that it is not that simple to implement those algorithms by myself with good performance. Given that I am working with matrices I cannot use CUDPP, so, although I was avoiding it, I will have to work with thrust library(I know nothing of C++).

I have been programing in C, and I really just want to use C++ to work with thrust, so basically I want to know if I can have most of my code in C and then have little bits of C++ code(I am guessing I will have to use the "external" function) but I wanted to be sure if it's feasible in CUDA.

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

On the host code side, thrust is simple to integrate. Even though you might think that your host side code in any .cu file you compile is C, it is compiled using a C++ compiler anyway (most of CUDA internally relies on C++ features to compile). So you are actually working in C++ now without realizing it.

Answer 2

Yes, might complicate your build process but otherwise works fine. We use it all the time to wrap up some CUDA functions into C++ class which (and this is the REAL kicker) are then wrapped up with JNI for use in Java. If we can do it, you can do it! Have at it!