PowerISA Vector facilities
The PowerISA vector facilities (VMX and VSX) are extensive, but do
not always provide a direct or obvious functional equivalent to the Intel
Intrinsics. However not being obvious is not the same as impossible. It just
requires some basic programing skills.
It is a good idea to have an overall understanding of the vector
capabilities of the PowerISA. You do not need to memorize every instruction but
it helps to know where to look. Both the PowerISA and OpenPOWER ABI have a
specific structure and organization that can help you find what you are looking
for.
It also helps to understand the relationship between the PowerISA's
low level instructions and the higher abstraction of the vector intrinsics as
defined by the OpenPOWER ABI's Vector Programming Interfaces and the de facto
standard of GCC's PowerPC AltiVec Builtin Functions.