Apple Working On New Specialized Compilers Based On LLVM

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Apple Working On New Specialized Compilers Based On LLVM

Apple is said to be working on some new domain-specific compilers...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?pag...main-Compilers

[kpedersen]

I was about to say that Apple's iOS platform is only really useful for games and that games are pretty much always written in C++ (especially for resource limited platforms) so why bother creating another domain specific language that noone will use?

But then, didn't they originally develop LLVM-pipe which is fantastic for VMs and remote desktop. So perhaps this isn't a bad thing (if they open-source otherwise it might as well not exist, and probably wont in another couple of years).

[-MacNuke-]

But then, didn't they originally develop LLVM-pipe

Why should Apple write a Gallium-based CPU implementation of OpenGL for Mesa?

[uid313]

LLVM-powered SQL?
LLVM-powered LaTeX?

[wizard69]

LLVM-powered SQL?
LLVM-powered LaTeX?

Possibly, however there are a ton of potential things they could be doing here. Imagine a language built to make doing voice recognition less intense, maybe compiling directly to Apples new matrix processor. Speaking of which they could be looking for compiler developers to target that hardware from a number of languages. Then agian maybe they will be generating a Python compiler (I'm still pissed that they are on 2.7).

The focus on domain specific has me thinking of a few other possibilities. One possibility is a new language or a Swift extension, to target Machine Learning. ML and AIM technologies are in their infancy and frankly it is an area ripe for new tools an techniques. What that langauge or languates would be like is beyond me but lets face it Apple, Google, Microsoft and in reality all the big players are getting real deep into such technology. Another area that is rip for Apple is VR and tools to develop VR solutions.

In any event this is a subject that could be developed upon for months as there are so many possibilities.

[ldesnogu]

In fact the job descriptions are available in the mail linked by Michael and specifically mention this:

This team is working with some of Apple's most advanced technologies including the augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) support offered in ARKit and Metal. As a member of our creative organization, you will have a uniquely rewarding opportunity to craft future products that will delight and inspire millions of people every day.

https://jobs.apple.com/us/search?#&s...obId=114047098
https://jobs.apple.com/us/search?#&s...obId=114047065

[grigi]

Having enough experience with Apple to be jaded, I immediately thought:
Aha! and so it begins... again...

I mean their eternal focus on vendor lock in.
The reason I avidly avoid them.

Besides, their latest macbooks are pure trash. I got one for work, and gave it back after 2 weeks. Now I'm using an old dell latitude, and is much happier for it.
It actually has a keyboard you can use.
It actually has a display that isn't a mirror.
It actually allows me to plug in stuff without dongles that is the size of the bloody device.
You can use it without feeling like it will slit your wrists.

[kpedersen]

Why should Apple write a Gallium-based CPU implementation of OpenGL for Mesa?

Are you asking why they did it? I think Apple wrote it to allow the Mac Minis of the time (Intel GMA 945 or 965) to support OpenGL 2.1.
This them allowed them to source cheap hardware and still get Mac OS X fully working on them.

I think their LLVMpipe was then open-sourced and ported into Gallium.

[audir8]

^ I didn't know porn was ok to post on phoronix.

[mczak]

Are you asking why they did it? I think Apple wrote it to allow the Mac Minis of the time (Intel GMA 945 or 965) to support OpenGL 2.1.
This them allowed them to source cheap hardware and still get Mac OS X fully working on them.

I think their LLVMpipe was then open-sourced and ported into Gallium.

Apple has nothing do to with llvmpipe, and (to my knowledge) they've never used it neither.
Funnily enough though you could argue llvmpipe has roots in Larrabee... (rasterization works basically the same as described on a rasterization-on-larrabee paper). In any case, if you look at the commit log, you can easily see that (nearly) all contributions are from VMware employees, and not apple ones :-).

However, apple do use llvm for their metal shading language compiler, so I suppose that would count as a "domain specific compiler".