Re:Implementation of GPT-2 in pure CMake
by ahartmetz on Sunday August 23, 2026 @07:28PM
(#49413618)
FWIW, this is most likely not even suitable to laugh at how slow it is - for that, you need to see something happening in less than an hour or so.
It can only use one core at a time, but that is not the worst thing: CMake is interpreted and stringly typed, so every number will have to be converted string -> number and usually back on every use.
Re:Implementation of GPT-2 in pure CMake
by avilay on Sunday August 23, 2026 @09:27PM
(#49414305)
Why? Just...why?
I get that sometimes we like to build useless things because they are elegant, or beautiful, or "cool" in some sense of the word. But CMake is not cool in any sense of the word! I can barely use it to write build files, and that too I have gladly offloaded to AI. Sometimes when looking at CMake files in a large project, I become nostalgic about Makefiles, but then I think about what the rewrite would entail, and I resign myself to my fate.
Re:Implementation of GPT-2 in pure CMake
by OJFord on Monday August 24, 2026 @03:21AM
(#49416237)
An exercise in understanding gpt2, flexing the author's cmake skills, while demonstrating the absurd complexity of what it allows similarly to 'c++ templates are turing complete' or 'doom on my calculator'.
It can only use one core at a time, but that is not the worst thing: CMake is interpreted and stringly typed, so every number will have to be converted string -> number and usually back on every use.
https://github.com/AlpinDale/gpt2.cmake/blob/main/cmake/mode...
I get that sometimes we like to build useless things because they are elegant, or beautiful, or "cool" in some sense of the word. But CMake is not cool in any sense of the word! I can barely use it to write build files, and that too I have gladly offloaded to AI. Sometimes when looking at CMake files in a large project, I become nostalgic about Makefiles, but then I think about what the rewrite would entail, and I resign myself to my fate.
Feeling Queasy, is still a feeling, mind you.
(Also, in a good way, mind: Art for art's sake.-)