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Fp8 runs ~100 tflops faster when the kernel name has "cutlass" in it

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Re: Fp8 runs ~100 tflops faster when the kernel name has "cutlass" in it

#61
post #43

Someone really needs to learn to use `git commit --amend`. Almost 100 commits with pointless commit messages like "wip" or "x"? Be kinder to your reviewers...

The proper way to work with git: Commit like a madman on your private branch. Short messages, written in seconds, just to be able to remember what you were doing if you are interrupted and have to get back into your work later. If you have a CI pipeline, often you have to make small changes until it works, so no reason to bother with smart commit messages. At some point, you will have something working that makes sen…

There is no "proper" way to use git, there is only a proper way to interact with your fellow developers.

You can do whatever you like locally. That's the luxury of git: it's distributed so you always get your own playground. You can make commits with short names if you find that useful. Personally I prefer to track my progress using a todo system, so I don't need commits to tell me where I am. I use `stash` instead of committing broken stuff if I need to switch branches.

I've found the idea of "rebase later" always easier said than done. In my experience if you work like that you'll more often than not end up just squashing everything into one commit. I prefer to rebase as I go. I'll rebase multiple times a day. Rearranging commits, amending the most recent commit etc. Keeping on top of it is the best way to achieve success at the end. It's like spending that bit of extra time putting your tools away or sweeping the floor. It pays off in the long run.

Re: Fp8 runs ~100 tflops faster when the kernel name has "cutlass" in it

#62
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> you can only delete the human input once git branch "backup/$(git branch --show-current)/$(date +%s)" # do whatever you fancy git reset --hard "backup/$(git branch --show-current)/${thattimestampabove}" You can't lose anything as long as you have a pointer to it (which doubles as making it easy to find)

No need to make a "backup" branch. Learn to trust the reflog.

[deleted]

Re: Fp8 runs ~100 tflops faster when the kernel name has "cutlass" in it

#63
post #49
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate it when I look at some code, wondering why I added a refresh call at that point, I do a git blame to find the commit message, and it says "add refresh call".

But... I keep being told that commit messages are useless because the code is the documentation, so code diffs are self-explanatory...

That only works if the code is good enough to be the documentation. In DayJob prefer to cover all the bases:

∞ Try make the code sensible & readable so it can be the documentation.

∞ Comment well anyway, just in case it isn't as obvious to the reader (which might be me in a few months time) as it is to me when making the change. Excess comments can always be removed later (and, unless some idiot rewrites history, can potentially be referred to after removal if you have a “why t f” moment), comments you never write can't be found later.

∞ Either a directly meaningful commit message, or at very least ticket references to where more details can be found.

For personal tinkering, I'm a lot less fastidious.

Re: Fp8 runs ~100 tflops faster when the kernel name has "cutlass" in it

#64
post #17

Heh. Does anyone remember when almost 25 years ago ATI (AMD) caught manipulating the Quake III benchmarks by renaming the executables to ‘quack’? https://web.archive.org/web/20230929180112/https://techrepor... https://web.archive.org/web/20011108190056/https://hardocp.c... https://web.archive.org/web/20011118183932/www.3dcenter.de/a...

This is weirdly common; phone chipset manufacturers did it with phone benchmarks [0], VW with emissions [1], nVidia did it with 3DMark [2], Intel with the SPEC benchmark for its Xeon processors [3], etc.

When it comes to computer graphics, iirc it's pretty normalized now - graphics drivers all seem to have tweaks, settings, optimizations and workarounds for every game.

(As an aside, I hate that I have to link to archive.org, there's a lot of dead links nowadays but these are important things to remember).

[0] https://web.archive.org/web/20250306120819/https://www.anand...

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_emissions_scandal

[2] https://web.archive.org/web/20051218120547/http://techreport...

[3] https://www.servethehome.com/impact-of-intel-compiler-optimi...

Re: Fp8 runs ~100 tflops faster when the kernel name has "cutlass" in it

#66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> - Tested locally and working correctly This is completely meaningless and just pollutes the log.

"ready for production", "fully working" and other Claude-isms come to mind

You're totally right!

Re: Fp8 runs ~100 tflops faster when the kernel name has "cutlass" in it

#67
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But... I keep being told that commit messages are useless because the code is the documentation, so code diffs are self-explanatory...

That only works if the code is good enough to be the documentation. In DayJob prefer to cover all the bases: ∞ Try make the code sensible & readable so it can be the documentation. ∞ Comment well anyway, just in case it isn't as obvious to the reader (which might be me in a few months time) as it is to me when making the change. Excess comments can always be removed later (and, unless some idiot rewrites history, can…

> That only works if the code is good enough to be the documentation.

It never actually is at any non-minimal scale (and not even the code authored by the the people who claim code is self documenting).

My comment was rhetorical and sarcastic.

Re: Fp8 runs ~100 tflops faster when the kernel name has "cutlass" in it

#68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just in case anyone else parsed that sentence the same way as me, ati detected "quake" as the executable and changed things like texture quality etc to increase benchmark performance. Some people discovered this after they renamed the executable to "quack" and the image quality improved but the benchmarks were lower, proving that the ati drivers "optimised" by reducing quality. Ati did not rename quake to quack as I…

Thank you for explaining. I was so confused at how AMD was improving Quake performance with duck-like monikers.

Well, if it _looks_ like a high-performance texture renderer, and it _walks_ like a high-performance texture renderer...

Re: Fp8 runs ~100 tflops faster when the kernel name has "cutlass" in it

#69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's fine if you squash it. I have no idea why they didn't squash it before pushing to GitHub though.

They probably didn’t care. And having many small commits instead of a big squashed one can be useful when using git bisect for example.

Yeah. I have never in my entire career thought "there are too many commit messages" when doing code archeology, but I have sometimes thought "damn, this commit is huge"

Re: Fp8 runs ~100 tflops faster when the kernel name has "cutlass" in it

#70
I work with compilers

And despite it not being nice, some optimizations rely on type or function names schemas/substrings/etc

It sucks, but thats how it works

It doesnt have to be malicious just sometimes it is safer to deploy optimization only for your libs than risk breaking stuff

Or your frontend is not giving you more data which you can rely on

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