VK_KHR_shader_untyped_pointers

Last Modified Date

2024-03-26

IP Status

No known IP claims.

Interactions and External Dependencies

• Requires the SPV_KHR_untyped_pointers SPIR-V extension.

Contributors

• Alan Baker, Google
• Jan-Harald Fredriksen, Arm
• Tom Olson, Arm
• Spencer Fricke, LunarG
• Shahbaz Youssefi, Google
• Tobias Hector, AMD

This extension adds Vulkan support for the SPV_KHR_untyped_pointers SPIR-V extension. It provides an alternative to strongly-typed pointers. Untyped pointers allow shader authors to reinterpret data accessed through memory and atomic instructions versus the data type declared in the variable without extra conversion instructions. Untyped pointers also provide an efficient translation from templated load/store operations in high-level languages and simplify shaders that support operations, but not storage, on smaller data types (e.g. 16-bit floating-point types).

New Structures

• Extending VkPhysicalDeviceFeatures2, VkDeviceCreateInfo:
  • VkPhysicalDeviceShaderUntypedPointersFeaturesKHR

New Enum Constants

• VK_KHR_SHADER_UNTYPED_POINTERS_EXTENSION_NAME
• VK_KHR_SHADER_UNTYPED_POINTERS_SPEC_VERSION
• Extending VkStructureType:
  • VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_PHYSICAL_DEVICE_SHADER_UNTYPED_POINTERS_FEATURES_KHR

Version History

• Revision 1, 2024-03-26 (Alan Baker)
  • Internal draft version