[libre-riscv-dev] FP transcendentals (trigonometry, root/exp/log) proposal

[lkcl]

https://libre-riscv.org/ztrans_proposal/

As part of developing a Libre GPU that is intended for 3D, specialist Compute and Machine Learning, standard operations used in OpenCL are pretty much mandatory [1].

As they will end up in common public usage - upstream compilers with high volumes of downloads - it does not make sense for these opcodes to be relegated to "custom" status ["custom" status is suitable only for embedded proprietary usage that will never see the public light of day].

Also, they are not being proposed as part of RVV for the simple reason that as "scalar" opcodes, they can be used with *scalar* designs.  It makes more sense that they be deployable in "embedded" designs (that may not have room for RVV, particularly as CORDIC seems to cover the vast majority of trigonometric algorithms and more [2]), or in NUMA parallel designs, where a cluster of shaders makes up for a lack of "vectorisation".

In addition: as scalar opcodes, they fit into the (huge, sparsely populated) FP opcode brownfield, whereas the RVV major opcode is much more under pressure.

The list of opcodes is at an early stage, and participation in its development is open and welcome to anyone involved in 3D and OpenCL Compute applications.

Context, research, links and discussion are being tracked on the libre riscv bugtracker [3].

L.

[1] https://www.khronos.org/registry/spir-v/specs/unified1/OpenCL.ExtendedInstructionSet.100.html
[2] http://www.andraka.com/files/crdcsrvy.pdf
[3] http://bugs.libre-riscv.org/show_bug.cgi?id=127