Add FAQ about why varying values can't be passed to exported functions.
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43
docs/faq.rst
43
docs/faq.rst
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ distribution.
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+ `How can I generate a single binary executable with support for multiple instruction sets?`_
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+ `How can I determine at run-time which vector instruction set's instructions were selected to execute?`_
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+ `Is it possible to inline ispc functions in C/C++ code?`_
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+ `Why is it illegal to pass "varying" values from C/C++ to ispc functions?`_
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* Programming Techniques
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@@ -391,6 +392,48 @@ linking your applicaiton.
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``-mattr=+avx`` flag to ``llc``.)
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Why is it illegal to pass "varying" values from C/C++ to ispc functions?
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------------------------------------------------------------------------
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If any of the types in the parameter list to an exported function is
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"varying" (including recursively, and members of structure types, etc.),
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then ``ispc`` will issue an error and refuse to compile the function:
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::
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% echo "export int add(int x) { return ++x; }" | ispc
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<stdin>:1:12: Error: Illegal to return a "varying" type from exported function "foo"
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<stdin>:1:20: Error: Varying parameter "x" is illegal in an exported function.
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While there's no fundamental reason why this isn't possible, recall the
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definition of "varying" variables: they have one value for each program
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instance in the gang. As such, the number of values and amount of storage
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required to represent a varying variable depends on the gang size
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(i.e. ``programCount``), which can have different values depending on the
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compilation target.
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``ispc`` therefore prohibits passing "varying" values between the
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application and the ``ispc`` program in order to prevent the
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application-side code from depending on a particular gang size, in order to
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encourage portability to different gang sizes. (A generally desirable
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programming practice.)
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For cases where the size of data is actually fixed from the application
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side, the value can be passed via a pointer to a short ``uniform`` array,
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as follows:
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::
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export void add4(uniform int ptr[4]) {
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foreach (i = 0 ... 4)
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ptr[i]++;
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}
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On the 4-wide SSE instruction set, this compiles to a single vector add
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instruction (and associated move instructions), while it still also
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efficiently computes the correct result on 8-wide AVX targets.
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Programming Techniques
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======================
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