WebGPU project twins browsers and low-level graphics APIs
The World Wide Web Consortium, better known as the W3C, allows members to propose community groups for discussion and consideration of future web standards. Yesterday the team behind the popular WebKit engine for browsers proposed just such a group to help develop and standardize an API-tentatively called "WebGPU"-that will allow web-based applications to interface with graphics processors in the low-level manner enabled by modern graphics APIs like Vulkan, Metal, and DirectX 12.
The proposal is still at an extremely early stage, although the WebKit team says it has been working on its prototype for a few years. The group says its decision to work on a new standard came out of the realization that the existing WebGL standard for 3D web graphics wasn't keeping pace with developments ...