Why are they still called GPU? PPU (Parallel Processing Unit) sounds like a better name.
Because they're filled with graphics specific silicon in addition to the GPGPU stuff.
What every developer should know about GPU computing
111–120 of 186 posts
Re: What every developer should know about GPU computing
#112Earlier quoted context omitted.
Definitely not true about most programmers, but maybe the author meant CS educated engineers. Going through a formal CS program will give you an intimate understanding of CPUs, especially when compared to the very light coverage of GPUs.
"Going through a formal CS program will give you an intimate understanding of CPUs and 101 other hilarious jokes you can tell yourself!"
Depends on the university!
In my school to pass the computer architecture course you had to read and present a recent paper on CPU design.
Re: What every developer should know about GPU computing
#113Earlier quoted context omitted.
Because everybody understands what you mean when you say GPU. Same with drone versus quad-copter, etc...
To be pedantic, a quadcopter is a drone, but a drone is not necessarily a quadcopter.
To be even more pedantic, "quadcopter" is a statement about airframe layout, and "drone" is a statement about control, and neither necessarily implies the other. You can have a non-drone quadcopter [0] or a non-quadcopter drone [1].
[0] e.g., https://www.jetsonaero.com/jetson-one
Re: What every developer should know about GPU computing
#114>Most programmers have an intimate understanding of CPUs maybe this article is brilliant, but when the first line is something so blatantly untrue it really makes it hard to take the rest seriously
I don't understand why every other submission on the internet has to have at least one "stopped reading at X" comment relating to it. It adds absolutely nothing.
Re: What every developer should know about GPU computing
#115>Most programmers have an intimate understanding of CPUs maybe this article is brilliant, but when the first line is something so blatantly untrue it really makes it hard to take the rest seriously
Try this on: "A non-trivial number of Computer Scientists, Computer Engineers, Electrical Engineers, and hobbyists have ..." Took some philosophy courses for fun in college. I developed a reading skill there that lets me forgive certain statements by improving them instead of dismissing them. My brain now automatically translates over-generalizations and even outright falsehoods into rationally-nearby true statements…
I feel like that would slow down my reading so hard…and I’m already a slow reader :(
Re: What every developer should know about GPU computing
#116Earlier quoted context omitted.
Try this on: "A non-trivial number of Computer Scientists, Computer Engineers, Electrical Engineers, and hobbyists have ..." Took some philosophy courses for fun in college. I developed a reading skill there that lets me forgive certain statements by improving them instead of dismissing them. My brain now automatically translates over-generalizations and even outright falsehoods into rationally-nearby true statements…
That's a refreshing take. I tried real hard to understand what some continental philosophers, such as Latour, Deleuze, and Žižek are on about, giving some of their texts quite some benefit of the doubt. After about ten years of doing so, I am more and more returning to my previous opinion that some of these just like to talk, and even though they have lots to say, they say so much, that I still have to do all the act…
Philosophy is often called the "Great Conversation" because, as you say, a lot of it is just people "saying things". Some of these things are incredibly insightful others are just babbling, the ones that make it into books generally have a higher ratio of insight to babble. You need to read philosophy, especially continental philosophy, with a critical eye. If you aren't chewing on and contemplating (and calling "bullshit") on philosophy as you read it, you aren't getting out of it what you should.
Re: What every developer should know about GPU computing
#117This is one of the better explanations I've seen of how GPU programming works. I'll be using this for my mentees in the future. Well done!
Re: What every developer should know about GPU computing
#118>Most programmers have an intimate understanding of CPUs maybe this article is brilliant, but when the first line is something so blatantly untrue it really makes it hard to take the rest seriously
I learned it both in my degree and the Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs course (which I recommend to anyone interested in low level computing)
Re: What every developer should know about GPU computing
#119>Most programmers have an intimate understanding of CPUs maybe this article is brilliant, but when the first line is something so blatantly untrue it really makes it hard to take the rest seriously
I don't understand why every other submission on the internet has to have at least one "stopped reading at X" comment relating to it. It adds absolutely nothing.
It provides feedback to the author, and it also has generated quite a significant discussion here about the topic.
It could have been worded more constructively sure, but given that the entire point of this website is to have discussions about the material posted, I think it’s added quite a bit.