Apple Announces A New 3D API, OpenGL Competitor: Metal

[jimbohale]

For Christ's sake, this "theorizing" is totally retarded.
The reason Apple is not releasing Swift as open-source today is absolutely obvious --- the syntax IS NOT YET FROZEN.
Apple have said this repeatedly --- over the next few months they are listening to comments on perceived flaws in the language and how they might be improved, and they will do what they believe makes sense to rectify those flaws. NOTHING is going to be released as open source until, at the very least, the Swift 1.0 syntax and semantics are nailed down.

As for why Apple didn't choose Go, Rust, C#, Scala, or whatever other random favorite language you have, here's a hint: Apple's SINGLE BIGGEST REQUIREMENT is interoperability with their existing code. Do those languages operate on top of the Objective-C Runtime and with Objective-C semantics? No. So WTF are they being raised as realistic options for solving APPLE'S problems. Not YOUR problems, APPLE'S PROBLEMS?

Yeah no shit sherlock, read my fucking comments before you burst out with a fucking douchy post. I said the world would be a better place if Apple eventually open sources it, and presumably they will when they are ready (carried on from another thread).

As for the other comments, yup. That's right on the line of what I've been saying (although I'm not certain that was directed at me).

[chrisb]

An SoC is more than a GPU

Good job it also wins the CPU physics benchmark then.

[scottishduck]

Tegra K1 benchmarks nearly double A7, Snapdragon 800 performance

An SoC is more than a GPU

[chrisb]

...Apple A7 remains the most powerful mobile SoC

Tegra K1 benchmarks nearly double A7, Snapdragon 800 performance

[name99]

Go's syntax is not as clean as Swift's syntax in my opinion, and this is coming from a MASSIVE Google fan. That's why I think that if Swift were to be able to be compiled on every OS and have half-decent IDE support we would be in a better place.

For Christ's sake, this "theorizing" is totally retarded.
The reason Apple is not releasing Swift as open-source today is absolutely obvious --- the syntax IS NOT YET FROZEN.
Apple have said this repeatedly --- over the next few months they are listening to comments on perceived flaws in the language and how they might be improved, and they will do what they believe makes sense to rectify those flaws. NOTHING is going to be released as open source until, at the very least, the Swift 1.0 syntax and semantics are nailed down.

As for why Apple didn't choose Go, Rust, C#, Scala, or whatever other random favorite language you have, here's a hint: Apple's SINGLE BIGGEST REQUIREMENT is interoperability with their existing code. Do those languages operate on top of the Objective-C Runtime and with Objective-C semantics? No. So WTF are they being raised as realistic options for solving APPLE'S problems. Not YOUR problems, APPLE'S PROBLEMS?

[jimbohale]

I did spend time on their website, and that is why I came to that conclusion. Like Swift, Go also incorporates 'many modern features from a number of languages' and Swift even advertises many of the same features as Go, like automatic garbage collection and a simpler syntax. What does Swift offer that Go does not already offer? At least Go software can be compiled on every OS.

Go's syntax is not as clean as Swift's syntax in my opinion, and this is coming from a MASSIVE Google fan. That's why I think that if Swift were to be able to be compiled on every OS and have half-decent IDE support we would be in a better place.

[Anfdrea]

Metal vs Mantle vs OpenGL vs ... .

[liam]

http://gfxbench.com/result.jsp

The only mobile device faster than the A7 GPU is the Xiaomi MiPad with Tegra K1 which was just released last month after the A7 GPU had been on the market 8 months. The Tegra K1 is admittedly a significant improvement over the A7 GPU so we'll see how the A8 GPU does. The A7 GPU in iPhone 5s seems to still be the fastest GPU in a smartphone. Apple's actually been pretty reliable in shipping the fastest GPU in a mobile device on release and having sufficient performance room to hold that position for several months. It's their CPU performance that hasn't pushed the envelope, although the A7 has great single-core performance, and Metal is apparently an attempt to use the CPU more efficiently rather than relying on raw performance.

Depends on the test. If you look at Trex off screen iPhone isn't in the twenty.
On anandtech, their tests seem to indicate that the adreno 330 is the fastest shipping GPU right now, especially when not used in synthetics.

[liam]

I did spend time on their website, and that is why I came to that conclusion. Like Swift, Go also incorporates 'many modern features from a number of languages' and Swift even advertises many of the same features as Go, like automatic garbage collection and a simpler syntax. What does Swift offer that Go does not already offer? At least Go software can be compiled on every OS.

Swift uses arc rather than tracing.
Rust is still better than any of them, but I just don't see how Go/swift are competing at all.

[chinoto]

So long as the others don't get significant market share (might be fine if they have first class support for Linux), I think it's a good way of potentially encouraging Khronos to improve OpenGL and maybe even the Linux graphics devs (Mesa, Gallium3D, Wine, etc). Or put more bluntly, provides a threat so they get their asses in gear.