The precompiled `ArrayRangeCompute` function was not following proper fast
paths for special arrays. For example, when computing the range of an
`ArrayHandleUniformPointCoordinates`, the ranges should be taken from the
origin and spacing of the special array. However, the precompiled version
was calling the generic range computation, which was doing an unnecessary
reduction over the entire array. These fast paths have been fixed.
These mistakes in the code were caused by quirks in how templated method
overloading works. To prevent this mistake from happening again in the
precompiled `ArrayRangeCompute` function and elsewhere, all templated forms
of `ArrayRangeCompute` have been deprecated. Most will call
`ArrayRangeCompute` with no issues. For those that need the templated
version, `ArrayRangeComputeTemplate` replaces the old templated
`ArrayRangeCompute`. There is exactly one templated declaration of
`ArrayRangeComputeTemplate` that uses a class, `ArrayRangeComputeImpl`,
with partial specialization to ensure the correct form is used.
Added features with reporting types with `UnknownArrayHandle`. First,
added a method named `GetArrayTypeName` that returns a string containing
the type of the contained array. There were already methods
`GetValueType` and `GetStorageType`, but this provides a convenience to
get the whole name in one go.
Also improved the reporting when an `AsArrayHandle` call failed. Before,
the thrown method just reported that the `UnknownArrayHandle` could not
be converted to the given type. Now, it also reports the type actually
held by the `UnknownArrayHandle` so the user can better understand why
the conversion failed.
The `VariantArrayHandle` will soon be deprecated for its replacement of
`UnknownArrayHandle`. Thus, `Field` and related classes should start
using the new `UnknownArrayHandle`.
C++ template considers some types different even though they have the
exact same format. For example `int`, `long`, and `long long` all match
different types even though they all represent either signed 32-bit ints
or signed 64-bit ints.
List all these possible types in
`TypeListScalarAll`.
Instead, always use precompiled versions of range computing. This means
you won't be able to specify the type. Currently, types are limited to
scalars vecs up to size 4.
The main motivation for this change is to allow you to include Field.h
with a non-device compiler. This is an important feature for our
customers.
I plan in the future to implement a mechanism to pull out a component of
most ArrayHandle's as a single array. This would enable us to support a
precompiled version that can compute the range of arbitrarily sized
Vecs.
- Use tao::tuple instead of FunctionInterface to hold array/portal
collections.
- Type signatures are simplified. Now just use:
- ArrayHandleCompositeVector<ArrayT1, ArrayT2, ...>
- make_ArrayHandleCompositeVector(array1, array2, ...)
instead of relying on helper structs to determine types.
- No longer support component selection from an input array. All
input arrays must have the same ValueType (See ArrayHandleSwizzle
and ArrayHandleExtractComponent as the replacements for these
usecases.
Sandia National Laboratories recently changed management from the
Sandia Corporation to the National Technology & Engineering Solutions
of Sandia, LLC (NTESS). The copyright statements need to be updated
accordingly.
Most uses of ArrayRangeCompute just want to get the range of the data
and probably don't have a particular device in mind. Thus, it is better
to use a TryExecute internally use whatever devices are available.
Note that when using TryExecute, the calling code is expected to be able
to support all devices. That might not always be the case. Thus, I am
experimenting a bit with how we incorporate this in a library. The
advantage of having the code compiled in a library is that you only have
to compile it once and the calling code does not need to worry about
CUDA, etc.
However, because ArrayRangeCompute is templated, we can only pre-compile
some subset of array handle types. The most common are compiled into the
code (matching all the predefined ArrayHandles as well as some special
cases). If the code wants to use some other type, it has to include
ArrayRangeCompute.hxx. The only place where this is necessary is a test
that intentially trys to find the range on an uncommon type.
If array portals were to support virtual methods, then we should be able
to modify this code so that we could precompile for all array handle
types.