For those interested: github.com/KhronosGroup/M - here's hoping it works as advertised! If it does I really don't see any benefit at all to locking oneself into Metal at this stage.
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Now, is there a good way to get this API running on WebGL?
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I'm guessing Apple would have to keep OpenGL around in webkit. You can use MoltenGL if you still want to keep the same code between the web and your native build, but I believe that's still proprietary... moltengl.com/moltengl/
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Webkit would most likely be doing something similar internally in the future. Will be interesting what the other browser engines will have to do to maintain WebGL compatibility on macOS...
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Hopefully Apple makes this part of WebKit official supported as a gesture of good will. I mean we live in a world where Microsoft acquired github. Anything can happen.
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Yeah, I'd hope. But Apple hasn't shown itself to be the same OSS steward like Microsoft has become. I mean, part of me is grateful that OpenGL is being deprecated - it's a terribly old, ugly API. The annoying thing is more that they haven't provided a standards-based alternative.
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From what I hear it was a miracle of chance that we even ended up with a standardized cross platform graphics API that become somewhat popular. To expect it to happen a second time when everyone is incentivized against it might be too optimistic.
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There’s WebGPU which you could probably build WebGL on top of webkit.org/blog/7380/next
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Ugh, you mean Apple’s attempt to prut Metal in the browser (as opposed to building an abstraction on top of Vulkan?)
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Actually Microsoft and Google are both involved is my understanding
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Oh good. Hope they steer it towards Vulkan though. The idea is sound though. Build webgl on top of a lower level api.