Introducing SIMD.js
Contrary to popular opinion, I think this is actually a terrible idea. By doing this, we are basically adding SIMD to the JS 'virtual machine'. IMO, we shouldn't standardize on API for things which are so low level and this is really like an implementation detail in the virtual machine.<p>I would suggest two alternate approaches:<p>1. First come with a standard SIMD specification across CPUs. In some ways like the GL specification (for GPU) or even the webrtc stuff (for p2p connections). Once you have done that, define a JS API.<p>2. Identify proper use cases. The example are quite bogus currently. They show a mandelbrot. Well, all this is done in the GPU. Image manipulation is done best with css level filters. Once we identify the use cases, we can them maybe add APIs to specifically address them if it's important for the web in general.<p>In it's current form, this is really a 'because we can' API. Where does this end? What if we just expose raw socket and networking API instead of a webrtc style API? What about pixel manipulation of images?<p>Also see: <a href="http://www.mail-archive.com/webkit-dev@lists.webkit.org/msg25237.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.mail-archive.com/webkit-dev@lists.webkit.org/msg2...</a>. The apple guys are saying they can do all this even without the API.