The BLAS (Basic Linear Algebra Subprograms) are routines that provide standard building blocks for performing basic vector and matrix operations. BLAS is structured into three levels of functionality:
- Level 1 BLAS perform scalar, vector and vector-vector operations
- Level 2 BLAS perform matrix-vector operations
- Level 3 BLAS perform matrix-matrix operations
The BLAS functions are very efficient, portable, and widely available, they are commonly used in the development of high quality linear algebra software, LAPACK for example.
BLAS is a freely-available software package. It is available from netlib via anonymous ftp and the World Wide Web. Thus, it can be included in commercial software packages, provided attribution is appropriately included.
Both BLAS and LAPACK form the backbone of Apple’s Accelerate framework.
