In one embodiment, the invention is a method and apparatus for use of vectorization instruction sets. One embodiment of a method for generating vector instructions includes receiving source code written in a high-level programming language, wherein the source code includes at least one high-level instruction that performs multiple operations on a plurality of vector operands, and compiling the high-level instruction(s) into one or more low-level instructions, wherein the low-level instructions are in an instruction set of a specific computer architecture.