[cfe-dev] [OpenCL] Representing OpenCL half type by _Float16 type

[Bader, Alexey via cfe-dev]

Hi Sam,

I assume OpenCL half type mapped to __fp16 as OpenCL specification defines it as "A 16-bit floating-point conforming to the IEEE 754-2008 half precision storage format". This aligned with __fp16 description from clang documentation.

OpenCL cl_khr_fp16 extension enables arithmetic operations on 'half' data types and I think it's reasonable to map 'half' data type to _Float16 if cl_khr_fp16 is enabled.

Is it possible to map 'half' data type to _Float16 and keep the restrictions of OpenCL core specification?

Thanks,
Alexey


From: Liu, Yaxun (Sam) [mailto:Yaxun.Liu at amd.com]
Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2018 7:31 PM
To: 'anastasia.stulova at arm.com' <anastasia.stulova at arm.com>; Bader, Alexey <alexey.bader at intel.com>; Sumner, Brian <Brian.Sumner at amd.com>; cfe-dev (cfe-dev at lists.llvm.org) <cfe-dev at lists.llvm.org>
Subject: [OpenCL] Representing OpenCL half type by _Float16 type

Hi,

Clang supports two 16 bit floating point builtin types: __fp16 and _Float16. Their differences are here

https://clang.llvm.org/docs/LanguageExtensions.html#half-precision-floating-point

Currently clang supports OpenCL half type as __fp16, one significant disadvantage of which is that arithmetic operations are emitted as fp32 instead of fp16 instructions in LLVM IR. Another disadvantage is interoperability with C++ programs, which uses _Float16 mostly since it is an ISO standard whereas __fp16 is not.

OpenCL spec v 2.0 s 6.1.1.1 (https://www.khronos.org/registry/OpenCL/specs/opencl-2.0-openclc.pdf ) defines half type. There is no requirement that it has to be __fp16 or _Float16 type in clang. Actually, it seems both __fp16 and _Float16 can be used to represent OpenCL half type.

Considering the advantages of _Float16 type, I am wondering whether we should consider using _Float16 to represent OpenCL half type.

Any comments are welcome.

Thanks.

Yaxun (Sam) Liu
AMD



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