Intel® C++ Compiler 16.0 User and Reference Guide
Programming with Intel® Cilk™ Plus is a departure from traditional serial programming. Certain key concepts require explanation in order for you to write programs that perform and scale well.
The following concepts are key:
strands: the structure of an Intel® Cilk™ Plus program is best understood as a graph of strands connecting parallel control points.
pedigrees: each strand in an Intel® Cilk™ Plus program can be assigned a pedigree, a sequence of integers that identifies the strand.
work, span, and parallelism: the expected performance of an Intel® Cilk™ Plus program can be analyzed in terms of work, span, and parallelism.