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Idk if WebGPU will ever be fully supported by enough browsers to be viable for the web. Even if it is eventually supported people are saying it will take 10+ ye

Idk if WebGPU will ever be fully supported by enough browsers to be viable for the web. Even if it is eventually supported people are saying it will take 10+ years. I do think WebGPU can be a great cross-platform compute shader framework outside of the web. My experience with compute shaders is that they're really really platform specific: you need not just the right OS, but also the right graphics chip. It would be nice to write cross-platform high-end 3D apps without relying on Unity or Unreal. Also, hopefully WebGPU has better debugging tools (if they're even possible). I tried GPU programming before but it's a mess: almost every example I tried to run crashed terribly (e.g. system reboot), and even at best, I couldn't get much debugging output other than "code = problem".

rewq4321 5y ago
> people are saying it will take 10+ years Who is saying that? Genuinely curious. It has strong buy-in from Apple, Google and Mozilla, and all 3 are implementing the spec right now (and updating implementations as the spec changes). Seems very doubtful that it'd take anywhere near 10 years to be supported by major browsers. I guess it depends on what subset of graphics/compute features you need for it to be viable for your specific use case.
- Jakobeha 5y ago
  Ok, maybe not 10 years. But look at WebGL2. From wikipedia: > Development of the WebGL 2 specification started in 2013 with final in January 2017 Moreover, WebGL2 support was only added to Edge since January 2020, and as of now it's still not supported in Safari (excluding Safari TP) (from https://caniuse.com/webgl2 https://caniuse.com/webgl2).
  - rewq4321 5y ago
    I don't think you's want to use WebGL2 as an analogue here. Radically different depth and breadth of buy-in across the browser ecosystem. I'm no expert, but I'm genuinely curious where you got the 10+ year figure from (is there an up-to-date estimate/roadmap from any of the people working on this?). I was under the impression that we'd see an MVP stabilise relatively soon (i.e. within a couple of years at most). Of course, there will still be features being added in 10 years time, since graphics APIs and GPUs are always evolving.
    - fulafel 5y ago
      WebGL spec came about reasonably fast but took a very long time to become robust and well supported across all OS/hw/browser combos. Go read hn comment threads on webgl submissions and count people complaining about os or browser caches. GPU drivers are really buggy, especially if you try to cope with what is installed vs prompting users to upgrade their os or drivers.
pjmlp 5y ago
Don't have high hopes for debugging tools. During last week's meetup from Khronos the only suggestion was the native tooling like PIX.
- bullzeye 5y ago
  Tried attaching pix to chrome the other day. And it was not a pleasant experience, eventually just gave up. When mentioned in the meetup it kinda seemed like a tounge in cheek answer as in it is technically possible...

rewq4321 5y ago

> people are saying it will take 10+ years Who is saying that? Genuinely curious. It has strong buy-in from Apple, Google and Mozilla, and all 3 are implementing the spec right now (and updating implementations as the spec changes). Seems very doubtful that it'd take anywhere near 10 years to be supported by major browsers. I guess it depends on what subset of graphics/compute features you need for it to be viable for your specific use case.

Jakobeha 5y ago
Ok, maybe not 10 years. But look at WebGL2. From wikipedia: > Development of the WebGL 2 specification started in 2013 with final in January 2017 Moreover, WebGL2 support was only added to Edge since January 2020, and as of now it's still not supported in Safari (excluding Safari TP) (from https://caniuse.com/webgl2 https://caniuse.com/webgl2).
- rewq4321 5y ago
  I don't think you's want to use WebGL2 as an analogue here. Radically different depth and breadth of buy-in across the browser ecosystem. I'm no expert, but I'm genuinely curious where you got the 10+ year figure from (is there an up-to-date estimate/roadmap from any of the people working on this?). I was under the impression that we'd see an MVP stabilise relatively soon (i.e. within a couple of years at most). Of course, there will still be features being added in 10 years time, since graphics APIs and GPUs are always evolving.
  - fulafel 5y ago
    WebGL spec came about reasonably fast but took a very long time to become robust and well supported across all OS/hw/browser combos. Go read hn comment threads on webgl submissions and count people complaining about os or browser caches. GPU drivers are really buggy, especially if you try to cope with what is installed vs prompting users to upgrade their os or drivers.

pjmlp 5y ago

Don't have high hopes for debugging tools. During last week's meetup from Khronos the only suggestion was the native tooling like PIX.

bullzeye 5y ago
Tried attaching pix to chrome the other day. And it was not a pleasant experience, eventually just gave up. When mentioned in the meetup it kinda seemed like a tounge in cheek answer as in it is technically possible...