One embodiment of the present invention sets forth a method for enabling an intermediate code-based application program to access a target graphics processing unit (GPU) in a parallel processing environment. The method includes the steps of compiling a source code of the intermediate code-based application program to an intermediate code, translating the intermediate code to a PTX instruction code, and translating the PTX instruction code to a machine code executable by the target graphics processing unit before delivering the machine code to the target GPU.