The Khronos Group, the open consortium responsible for WebGL, OpenGL, Vulkan, and other critical 3D and graphics technologies used throughout the computer industry, announced this month the release of the Slang Initiative.
Slang Shading Language
The Slang Initiative will oversee and advance the open-source Slang shading language and compiler, building on 15 years of NVIDIA-supported research and development.
Supported by NVIDIA since 2017, Slang has been widely adopted in production projects across the world in various industries. Slang empowers real-time graphics developers with innovative features that can complement existing shader languages, including modular code development, portable deployment to multiple target APIs, plus neural computation in graphics shaders. With the help of Khronos to support industry-wide collaboration and forward advancement, Slang looks to continue its evolution.
Slang open-source, cross-platform compilers can target multiple shader languages across a broad computer industry spectrum. (Image: Khronos Group, All rights reserved,)
“Slang is now a significant shading language option for graphics developers everywhere, as all are enabled to directly influence and participate in its ongoing development,” said Neil Trevett, president of The Khronos Group and vice president developer ecosystems, NVIDIA. “Khronos’s innovative Slang governance structure blends open-source development agility with the patent safeguards of open standards. Slang is freely available for any platform or API to use, including Khronos, which will leverage Slang in the Vulkan ecosystem while ensuring SPIR-V remains responsive to Slang’s requirements.”
NVIDIA and Slang
“NVIDIA will continue its longstanding investment in Slang, which is designed to meet the needs of today’s graphics developers while paving the way for the neural graphics revolution,” said Nicholas Haemel, vice president of graphics and system software, NVIDIA. “With Slang in open governance at Khronos, the graphics community can collaboratively advance and harness the advantages of cross-platform support, scalable graphics systems, reduced compile times, and enhanced modularity.”
Fostering Open Collaboration
Slang will evolve under the unique governance model managed by the Khronos Group, ensuring Slang remains open and responsive to developers. It is hosted on GitHub and licensed under Apache 2.0. Slang open-source projects will follow best practices for technical development.
To learn more about Slang and its evolution and industry support, read the full press release here.