Re: Using ArrayBuffer as payload for binary data to/from Web Workers

On Fri, Apr 22, 2011 at 6:26 PM, Kenneth Russell <kbr@google.com> wrote:
> On Mon, Mar 7, 2011 at 6:17 PM, Kenneth Russell <kbr@google.com> wrote:
>> On Mon, Mar 7, 2011 at 5:18 PM, Chris Marrin <cmarrin@apple.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> On Mar 7, 2011, at 4:46 PM, Kenneth Russell wrote:
>>>
>>>> On Mon, Mar 7, 2011 at 3:54 PM, Glenn Maynard <glenn@zewt.org> wrote:
>>>>> On Mon, Mar 7, 2011 at 6:05 PM, Chris Marrin <cmarrin@apple.com> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Now that ArrayBuffer has made its way into XHR, I think it would be
>>>>>> reasonable to somehow use this new object type as a way to pass data to and
>>>>>> from Workers without copying. I've seen hints and thoughts about this here
>>>>>> and there, but I've never seen a formal discussion. I'm not even sure if
>>>>>> webapps is the place for this discussion, although it seems like a
>>>>>> reasonable place. Please let me know if there is a better place.
>>>>>
>>>>> ArrayBuffer is the most obvious use for zero-copy messaging, but I don't
>>>>> think it should be limited to it...
>>>>>
>>>>>> Has there been discussion anywhere that I've missed?
>>>>>
>>>>> Probably not the only one, but check the "WebWorkers and images" thread on
>>>>> whatwg.
>>>>
>>>> There's definitely interest among the editors of the Typed Array spec
>>>> in revising the spec to support zero-copy data transfers to and from
>>>> web workers. In informal offline discussions, there was a tentative
>>>> plan to put up a new draft for discussion within the next month or so.
>>>> A goal was to prototype it before solidifying a spec so that we can be
>>>> assured it will work well for real-world use cases.
>>>
>>> Yeah, I guess the question is whether we should put the functionality into ArrayBuffer, or into a wrapper class which would part of the Web Worker spec. The latter might make it easier to add other resources (like image and canvas) at some point. But I agree, it should be implemented before finalizing anything.
>>>
>>> Did I hear you volunteer to add a strawman proposal to the Typed Array spec? :-)
>>
>> Yes, you did. :-)
>
> The editors' draft of the typed array spec has been updated with a
> strawman proposal for this zero-copy, transfer-of-ownership behavior:
>
> http://www.khronos.org/registry/typedarray/specs/latest/
>
> Feedback would be greatly appreciated. For the purposes of keeping the
> conversation centralized, it might be helpful if we could use the
> public_webgl list; see
> https://www.khronos.org/webgl/public-mailing-list/ .

Please note that the strawman proposals in the typed array spec have
been updated based on feedback. Further feedback would be greatly
appreciated.

-Ken

Received on Thursday, 26 May 2011 01:23:29 UTC