Shading Mental Model and WebGPU Context

Scott and CJ sit down live at JSNation NYC with Iwo Plaza, creator of TypeGPU, to dig into how WebGPU is unlocking a new wave of graphics and compute power on the web. They chat about shader authoring in TypeScript, the future of GPU-powered AI in the browser, and what it takes to build a killer developer-friendly graphics library.

Show Notes

• 00:00 Welcome to Syntax!
• 00:32 What is TypeGPU? High-level overview and why it exists
• 01:20 WebGPU vs WebGL – the new era of GPU access on the web
• 01:47 Why shader languages are hard + making them accessible
• 02:24 Iwo’s background in C++, OpenGL, and discovering JS
• 03:06 Sharing graphics work on the web vs native platforms
• 03:29 WebGPU frustrations that inspired TypeGPU
• 04:17 Making GPU–CPU data exchange easier with Zod-like schemas
• 05:01 Writing shaders in JavaScript + the unified type system
• 05:38 How the “use_gpu” directive works under the hood
• 06:05 Building a compiler that turns TypeScript into shader code
• 07:00 Type inference, primitives, structs, and TypeScript magic
• 08:21 Leveraging existing tooling via Unplugin + bundler integration
• 09:15 How TypeGPU extracts ASTs and generates TinyEST metadata
• 10:10 Runtime shader generation vs build-time macros
• 11:07 How the AST is traversed + maintaining transparency in output
• 11:43 Example projects like Jelly Shader and community reception
• 12:05 Brought to you by Sentry.io
• 12:30 Does TypeGPU replace 3JS? How it fits the existing ecosystem
• 13:20 Low-level control vs high-level abstractions
• 14:04 Upcoming Three.js integration – plugging TypeGPU into materials compute shaders
• 15:34 Making GPU development more approachable
• 16:26 Docs, examples, and the philosophy behind TypeGPU documentation
• 17:03 Building features by building examples first
• 18:13 Using examples as a test suite + how docs shape API design
• 19:00 Docs as a forcing function for intuitive APIs
• 20:21 GPU for AI – browser inference and future abstractions
• 21:11 How AI examples inform new libraries (noise, inference, etc.)
• 21:57 Keeping the core package small and flexible
• 22:44 Building “TypeGPU AI”-style extensions without bloating the core
• 23:07 The cost of AI examples and building everything from scratch
• 23:41 Standard library design and future of the ecosystem
• 24:04 Closing thoughts from Iwo – OSS, GPU renaissance, and encouragement
• 24:34 Sick Picks & Shameless Plugs

Sick Picks

• Iwo: Perogies

Shameless Plugs

• Iwo: Syntax Podcast

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