Supporting Unified Shader Specialization by Co-opting C++ Features · HackerPapers discussions

Supporting Unified Shader Specialization by Co-opting C++ Features — mentioned by raphlinus

Sat, 12 Mar 2022 02:02:22 GMT

It may be close to a technical impossibility, but the Circle compiler by Sean Baxter is attempting it. That's based on an aggressive "de-pointerization" (see [1] in particular for details). There's also academic work[2] to compile C++ to shaders. I agree that it's an open question how well that will work out. Also as pointed out elsethread, now that buffer device address is starting to land, the friction to compile pointer-intense C++ code should decrease even more. These are exciting times! [1]: https://github.com/seanbaxter/shaders#approaching-circle-sha... [2]…

Paper and discussion history. A mention is not an endorsement.

Supporting Unified Shader Specialization by Co-opting C++ Features — mentioned by raphlinus

Tue, 15 Feb 2022 04:27:40 GMT

While it has roots in C, I think it's better to consider it a separate language, especially in more modern forms (Metal is C++14). Metal is locked into Apple's proprietary platforms, but there is other work in compiling C++ to portable shaders, particularly Sean Baxter's Circle, as well as some academic work[1]. There's also of course rust-gpu. I think it's fair to say that in 5 to 10 years we will no longer be writing shaders in C, but will have moved on to a higher level language. [1]: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2109.14682.pdf

Paper and discussion history. A mention is not an endorsement.

Supporting Unified Shader Specialization by Co-opting C++ Features — HN submission

Sun, 03 Oct 2021 17:14:33 GMT

Unified Shader Programming in C++

106 points; 77 discussion replies on HN. Paper and source history. A submission is not an endorsement.