Editing Portal:HPC - High Performance Computing (section)

=== PDL and compiled speed: PDL::PP ===

PDL includes a system called '''PDL::PP''' for writing compiled PDL routines from concise descriptions. Its documentation says that PDL::PP prepares Perl modules and C sources, allowing software to be called from Perl while executing with C speed.<ref>MetaCPAN, “PDL::PP,” https://metacpan.org/pod/PDL%3A%3APP, accessed July 3, 2026.</ref>

This is one of the most important HPC ideas in Perl: Perl can be the high-level language while C performs the inner loop. PDL::PP helps generate the compiled layer needed to make array operations fast across multiple PDL data types.

That model is similar to how many scientific environments work. The user writes high-level code, but the heavy numerical operations are implemented in compiled kernels. Perl’s value is therefore not that every arithmetic operation is interpreted quickly. Its value is that Perl can express the workflow while handing dense numeric work to compiled routines.