DCompute: Native & Convenient Heterogeneous Computing for D

Nicholas Wilson
May 4 @ 16:30

Duration: 50 minutes
Talk type: Presentation
Level: Intermediate
Slides: PPTX
Video

Abstract: 

Following John Colvin’s 2016 DConf talk about easing the pain of using OpenCL, I thought: we have a compiler that targets LLVM (LDC) and LLVM targets SPIR-V & (while I’m at it) NVPTX, how hard can it be?

The results are modifications to LDC to allow code generation for use with the OpenCL and CUDA compute APIs, and a set of libraries (under development) to provide a D wrapping for more convenient writing and invocation of kernels written in D, opening up exciting new frontiers for D.

This talk will cover: the modifications made to LDC to support SPIR-V and NVPTX code generation; a guide for using these modifications and libraries, and; why D is uniquely positioned to bring its pillars of “Convenience, Modelling power and Efficiency” to the world of heterogeneous computing and their unwieldy APIs, through it’s powerful template system and introspective capabilities.

From watching this talk I expect attendees to know how to go about writing and invoking kernels for offloading computationally intensive workloads, all in D!

Speaker Bio:

I am a student at Murdoch University, Western Australia, studying for my BEng (Hons)/BSc in Industrial Computer Systems & Instrumentation and Control / Molecular Biology & Biomed. I am currently doing my honours thesis on low cost Electroluminescence imaging of solar cells. I have been using D for 5 years for odd jobs and number bashing.