Re:I want to talk about WebGPU
by flohofwoe on Wednesday May 03, 2023 @10:09AM
(#35802599)
> Was it possible to interact with the GPU before WebGPU via Web Assembly?
Only with tons of restrictions by going through WebGL, or by writing your own or extending an existing WASM runtime outside the browser which connects to system-native GPU APIs like D3D12, Vulkan or Metal.
> are there any other potentially novel uses for WebGPU
In general, the only thing that WebGPU has over calling into D3D12, Vulkan or Metal directly is that it provides a common subset of those 3 APIs (so you don't need to write 2 or 3 implementations to cover all popular operating systems) and it's easier to use (at least compared to D3D12 and Vulkan).
WebGPU is an important step into the right direction, but not a 'game changer' per se (at least outside the browser).
Only with tons of restrictions by going through WebGL, or by writing your own or extending an existing WASM runtime outside the browser which connects to system-native GPU APIs like D3D12, Vulkan or Metal.
> are there any other potentially novel uses for WebGPU
In general, the only thing that WebGPU has over calling into D3D12, Vulkan or Metal directly is that it provides a common subset of those 3 APIs (so you don't need to write 2 or 3 implementations to cover all popular operating systems) and it's easier to use (at least compared to D3D12 and Vulkan).
WebGPU is an important step into the right direction, but not a 'game changer' per se (at least outside the browser).