Zeon

ARM/ARM64 Neon intrinsics implemented in pure zig as well as in assembly!

Overview

Zeon aims to provide high-performance Neon intrinsics for ARM and ARM64 architectures, implemented in both pure Zig and inline assembly. This project prioritizes portability, performance, and flexibility, ensuring compatibility across various environments.

Status

🚧 This project is under active development(502/3803 implemented). Contributions and feedback are welcome!

Roadmap

• Complete inline assembly/LLVM builtin implementations.
• Write thorough tests for all functions to ensure correctness.
• Refactor into multiple files.
• Eliminate repetitive patterns to improve maintainability.
• Implement fallbacks for non-ARM architectures.
• Instruction Stripping e.g, Functions like vget_lane_f64 should compile down to nothing more than accessing the appropriate register (e.g., s0 for vec in v0). Currently, we are explicitly inserting instructions, which prevents the compiler from optimizing them away when not needed.
• Add support for Big Endian arm/aarch64, and add tests for it.
• For Vector Load intrinsics, dont assume the input length is the exact length of the output vector.
• Test against C/C++ implementation.
• Add a better way to switch between implementations(like assembly, builtins and the fallback).
• Use the fallback instead of assembly implementation when not in release.

Notes

• When using vld1* on non-ARM architectures(or if use_asm and use_builtins is off), it assumes the underlying type fits the size of the vector.
• Some intrinsics wont have inline assembly because the fallback implementation is either faster or the same as the assembly implementation. If the target function does not use inline assembly, then it wont be optimized to the target neon intrinsic unless your in ReleaseFast.

Getting Started

Requirements

To test and simulate ARM/ARM64 environments, QEMU user mode is required. Make sure QEMU is properly installed and configured before running tests. You'll also need Make for build and test automation. For usage examples, see examples.

Installation and Usage

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/n0thhhing/zeon
   cd zeon

2. Run tests:

   make test

3. Run examples:

   make examples

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for more information.

Resources

• rust-lang: Useful for function tests and reference.
• official docs: Official reference for ARM intrinsics and assembly.
• godbolt: Handy tool for examining and debugging assembly code.
• LLVM Language Reference Manual Helpful for using inline assembly.