'Float16' is unavailable in Mac Catalyst

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Created Jul ’20

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I'm making a Mac Catalyst app and have some 16 bit metal textures I would like to convert to an array of the new Float16.

Tho it dose not seem to be available...
'Float16' is unavailable in Mac Catalyst

Is Float16 Apple Silicon only?

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Answer 1

Claude31 OP

Jul ’20

I have no direct answer to the question.

May be interested in this discussion:
https://forums.swift.org/t/add-float16/19370/19

and
h ttps: // github.com/apple/swift-numerics/issues/8

This one deals with Float1§ in Metal:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/60221411/how-to-read-out-an-rgba16float-mtltexture-via-getbytes

1

Answer 2

OOPer OP

Jul ’20

Accepted Answer

You can find the following notes in the WWDC 2020 Video Explore numerical computing in Swift.

Float 16

...
Already available on iOS, iPadOS, tvOS, watchOS
Calling convention for x86 is not yet finalized (working with Intel to fix this)

(Around 12:00)

In fact, Float16 is unavailable in all sort of projects for macOS, including SwiftUI and Command Line Tools, as for now.

But I believe it will be ported into macOS (meaning Intel Macs) in the near future, because you can find Float16 works as expected in iOS simulator on Intel Mac.

I expect the next beta, or it might take a little bit longer.

3