Vulkan-Docs/chapters/introduction.txt
Jon Leech 94f03f1cca Change log for August 11, 2019 Vulkan 1.1.118 spec update:
* Update release number to 118.

Github Issues:

  * Update `BUILD.adoc` to specifically require asciidoctor 1.5.8, and make
    that change to the gitlab CI script (public issue 968).
  * Remove redundant slink:VkSubpassDependency and
    slink:VkSubpassDependency2KHR valid usage statements
    (public pull request 995).
  * Clarify the <<vkGetInstanceProcAddr behavior>> and <<vkGetDeviceProcAddr
    behavior>> tables (public pull request 1004).
  * Fix use of nonexistent
    slink:VkSamplerYcbcrConversionImageFormatProperties::pname:maxCombinedImageSamplerDescriptorCount
    (public pull request 1010).
  * Use compatible pathlib for python2 (public pull request 1012).

Internal Issues:

  * Mark the <<VK_KHR_vulkan_memory_model>> extension as no longer
    provisional in `vk.xml` (internal issue 1369).
  * Clarify that use-defined code:Input and code:Output variables cannot be
    code:Boolean in the <<interfaces-iointerfaces-user, User-defined
    Variable Interface>> section (internal issue 1663).
  * Fix naming inconsistencies in
    slink:VkPhysicalDevicePerformanceQueryFeaturesKHR,
    slink:VkPhysicalDevicePerformanceQueryPropertiesKHR,
    slink:VkQueryPoolPerformanceCreateInfoKHR, and associated enumerants
    (internal issue 1746).
  * Use ACM reference style for normative references (internal merge request
    3256).
  * Explicitly list the features changed in Vulkan 1.1 in the
    <<features-requirements, Feature Requirements>> section and the
    <<versions, Core Revisions (Informative)>> appendix (internal merge
    request 3274).
  * Add the slink:VkPhysicalDeviceSubgroupSizeControlFeaturesEXT structure
    to the <<VK_EXT_subgroup_size_control>> extension, which was
    accidentally omitted in the initial release of the extension (internal
    merge request 3287).
  * Add missing slink:VkImageUsageFlag description for
    ename:VK_IMAGE_USAGE_FRAGMENT_DENSITY_MAP_BIT_EXT (internal merge
    request 3292).
  * Add valid usage statements to slink:VkAccelerationStructureInfoNV and
    flink:vkGetAccelerationStructureHandleNV to clarify usage of
    acceleration structure handle and geometries (internal merge request
    3292).

New Extensions:

  * `<<VK_AMD_shader_core_properties2>>`
  * `<<VK_AMD_pipeline_compiler_control>>`
2019-08-11 04:54:43 -07:00

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// Copyright (c) 2015-2019 Khronos Group. This work is licensed under a
// Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License; see
// http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
[[introduction]]
= Introduction
This document, referred to as the "`Vulkan Specification`" or just the
"`Specification`" hereafter, describes the Vulkan Application Programming
Interface (API).
Vulkan is a http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg14/www/standards[C99] API
designed for explicit control of low-level graphics and compute
functionality.
The canonical version of the Specification is available in the official
http://www.khronos.org/registry/vulkan/[Vulkan Registry]
(http://www.khronos.org/registry/vulkan/).
The source files used to generate the Vulkan specification are stored in the
https://github.com/KhronosGroup/Vulkan-Docs[Vulkan Documentation Repository]
(https://github.com/KhronosGroup/Vulkan-Docs).
The source repository additionally has a public issue tracker and allows the
submission of pull requests that improve the specification.
[[introduction-conventions]]
== Document Conventions
The Vulkan specification is intended for use by both implementors of the API
and application developers seeking to make use of the API, forming a
contract between these parties.
Specification text may address either party; typically the intended audience
can be inferred from context, though some sections are defined to address
only one of these parties.
(For example, <<fundamentals-validusage>> sections only address application
developers).
Any requirements, prohibitions, recommendations or options defined by
<<introduction-normative-terminology, normative terminology>> are imposed
only on the audience of that text.
[NOTE]
.Note
====
Structure and enumerated types defined in extensions that were promoted to
core in Vulkan 1.1 are now defined in terms of the equivalent Vulkan 1.1
interfaces.
This affects the Vulkan Specification, the Vulkan header files, and the
corresponding XML Registry.
====
[[introduction-normative-terminology]]
=== Normative Terminology
Within this specification, the key words *must*, *required*, *should*,
*recommended*, *may*, and *optional* are to be interpreted as described in
http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2119.txt[RFC 2119 - Key words for use in RFCs to
Indicate Requirement Levels] (http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2119.txt).
These key words are highlighted in the specification for clarity.
In text addressing application developers, their use expresses requirements
that apply to application behavior.
In text addressing implementors, their use expresses requirements that apply
to implementations.
In text addressing application developers, the additional key words *can*
and *cannot* are to be interpreted as describing the capabilities of an
application, as follows:
*can*::
This word means that the application is able to perform the action
described.
*cannot*::
This word means that the API and/or the execution environment provide no
mechanism through which the application can express or accomplish the action
described.
These key words are never used in text addressing implementors.
[NOTE]
.Note
==================
There is an important distinction between *cannot* and *must not*, as used
in this Specification.
*Cannot* means something the application literally is unable to express or
accomplish through the API, while *must not* means something that the
application is capable of expressing through the API, but that the
consequences of doing so are undefined: and potentially unrecoverable for
the implementation (see <<fundamentals-errors>>).
==================
Unless otherwise noted in the section heading, all sections and appendices
in this document are normative.
[[introduction-technical-terminology]]
=== Technical Terminology
The Vulkan Specification makes use of common engineering and graphics terms
such as *Pipeline*, *Shader*, and *Host* to identify and describe Vulkan API
constructs and their attributes, states, and behaviors.
The <<glossary,Glossary>> defines the basic meanings of these terms in the
context of the Specification.
The Specification text provides fuller definitions of the terms and may
elaborate, extend, or clarify the <<glossary,Glossary>> definitions.
When a term defined in the <<glossary,Glossary>> is used in normative
language within the Specification, the definitions within the Specification
govern and supersede any meanings the terms may have in other technical
contexts (i.e. outside the Specification).
[[introduction-normative-references]]
=== Normative References
References to external documents are considered normative references if the
Specification uses any of the normative terms defined in
<<introduction-normative-terminology>> to refer to them or their
requirements, either as a whole or in part.
The following documents are referenced by normative sections of the
specification:
[[ieee-754]]
IEEE.
August, 2008.
_IEEE Standard for Floating-Point Arithmetic_.
IEEE Std 754-2008.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/IEEESTD.2008.4610935 .
[[data-format]] Andrew Garrard.
_Khronos Data Format Specification, version 1.2_ (March, 2019).
https://www.khronos.org/registry/DataFormat/specs/1.2/dataformat.1.2.html .
[[spirv-extended]] John Kessenich.
_SPIR-V Extended Instructions for GLSL, Version 1.00_ (February 10, 2016).
https://www.khronos.org/registry/spir-v/ .
[[spirv-spec]] John Kessenich, Boaz Ouriel, and Raun Krisch.
_SPIR-V Specification, Version 1.3, Revision 2, Unified_ (May 11, 2018).
https://www.khronos.org/registry/spir-v/ .
[[vulkan-styleguide]] Jon Leech and Tobias Hector.
_Vulkan Documentation and Extensions: Procedures and Conventions_ (July 20,
2019).
https://www.khronos.org/registry/vulkan/specs/1.1/styleguide.html .
[[LoaderAndLayerInterface]]
_Vulkan Loader Specification and Architecture Overview_ (August, 2016).
https://github.com/KhronosGroup/Vulkan-Loader/blob/master/loader/LoaderAndLayerInterface.md
.