frontpage.
newsnewestaskshowjobs

Made with ♥ by @iamnishanth

Open Source @Github

fp.

Open in hackernews

Next-Gen GPU Programming: Hands-On with Mojo and Max Modular HQ

https://www.youtube.com/live/uul6hZ5NXC8?si=mKxZJy2xAD-rOc3g
44•solarmist•8mo ago

Comments

solarmist•8mo ago
I'm really hoping Modular.ai takes off. GPU programming seems like a nightmare, I'm not surprised they felt the need to build an entire new language to tackle that bog.
mirsadm•8mo ago
GPU programming isn't really that bad. I am a bit skeptical this is the way to solve it. The issue is that details do matter when you're writing stuff on the GPU. How much shared memory are you using? How is it scheduled? Is it better to inline or run multiple passes etc. Halide is the closest I think.
solarmist•8mo ago
What are you skeptical of? I believe the problem this is solving is a framework that's not CUDA that allows low level access to the hardware, makes it easy to write kernels, and is not Nvidia only. If you watch the video you can write directly in asm if you need to. You have full control if you want it. But it provides primitives and higher level objects that handle common cases.

I'm a novice in the area, but Chris is well respected in this area and cares a lot of about performance.

pjmlp•8mo ago
There are already plenty of languages in CUDA world, that is one reasons it is favoured.

The problem isn't the language, rather how to design the data structures and algorithms for GPUs.

solarmist•8mo ago
Not sure I fully understand your comment, but I'm pretty sure the talk addresses exactly that.

The primitives and pre-coded kernels provided by CUDA (it solves for the most common scenarios first and foremost) is what's holding things back and in order to get those algorithms and data structures down to the hardware level you need something flexible that can talk directly to the hardware.

pjmlp•8mo ago
C, C++, Fortran, Python JIT from NVidia, plus Haskell, .NET, Java, Futuhark, Julia from third parties, and anything else that can bother to create a backend targeting PTX, NVVM IR, or now cuTile.

The pre-coded kernels help a lot, but you don't have to use them necessarly.

melodyogonna•8mo ago
Yes, the problem isn't language, it is the entire stack. I think people focus too much on Mojo while ignoring the actual solution Modular has built, which is MAX. The main idea here is that MAX provides a consistent API for both library authors (e.g vLLM, Ollama) to target, as well as for hardware vendors to integrate with - so similar to LLVM.

Basically, imagine if you can target Cuda, but you don't have to do too much for your inference to also work on other GPU Vendors e.g AMD, Intel, Apple. All with performance matching or surpassing what the hardware vendors themselves can come up with.

Mojo comes into the picture because you can program Max with it, create custom kernels that is JIT compiled to the right vendor code at rumtime.

diabllicseagull•8mo ago
It is a noble cause. I've spent ten years of my life using CUDA professionally, outside the AI domain mind you. Most of these years, there was a strong desire to break off of CUDA and the associated Nvidia tax on our customers. But one thing we didn't want was to move from depending on CUDA to depending on another intermediary which would also mean financial drain, like the enterprise licensing these folks want to use. Sadly, open source alternatives weren't fostering much confidence, either with their limited feature coverage or just not knowing if they will be supported in the long term (support for new hardware, fixes, etc.).
pjmlp•8mo ago
Also while as language nerd I find Mojo cool, given NVidia's going full speed ahead with Python support in CUDA as announced at GTC 2025, to the point of designing a new IR as basis for their JIT, very few researchers will bother with Mojo.

Also what NVIDIA is doing has full Windows support, while Mojo support still isn't there, other than having to make use of WSL.

melodyogonna•8mo ago
Why? Will the new Nvidia Python stuff work on AMD GPU and other non-nvidia accelerators?
pjmlp•8mo ago
It still remains to be seen how much that will happen to Mojo and MAX, while most researchers are using CUDA anyway, and best of all, it works on their laptops, which cannot be said for AMD GPU and other non-nvidia accelerators.

Naturally assuming they are using laptops with NVidia GPUs.

catapart•8mo ago
My mistake completely, but I thought this was going to be something to do with a new scheme or re-thinking of graphics programming APIs, like Metal, Vulkan or OpenGL. Now I'm kind of bummed that it is what it is, because I got really excited for it to be that other thing. =(
pjmlp•8mo ago
That is already taking place with work graphs, and making shader languages more C++ like.
ttoinou•8mo ago
Seems like with it you will be able to compile and execute one code on multiple GPU targets though
ashvardanian•8mo ago
There is a "hush-hush open secret" between minutes 31 and 33 of the video :)
refulgentis•8mo ago
TL;Dr same binary runs on Nvidia and ATI today, but not announced yet
throwaway314155•8mo ago
They desperately need to disable whatever noise cancellation they're using on the audio. Keeps cutting out, sounds terrible.
solarmist•8mo ago
Yeah, the mic quality was terrible.
hogepodge•8mo ago
This was the first time we ran an event in the office with this wireless mic setup. We're definitely aware of the problems, and will have them fixed for the next event.
Archit3ch•8mo ago
> Other Accelerators (e.g. Apple Silicon GPUs): free for <= 8 devices

From their license.

It's not obvious what happens when you have >8 users, with one GPU each (typical laptop users).

threecheese•8mo ago
This is covered by ARM which they consider CPU, and doesn’t fall into that clause. IOW no restrictions.

Iran crippled Starlink and why the rest of the world should worry

https://restofworld.org/2026/iran-starlink-internet-shutdown/
1•vinnyglennon•39s ago•0 comments

Show HN: Snapalabra – Learn Spanish vocabulary through images

https://app.snapalabra.com/
1•detectivestory•52s ago•0 comments

Linear Introduces Code Reviews

https://linear.app/reviews
2•erex78•59s ago•0 comments

Show HN: SLOK – A Kubernetes operator for declarative SLOs and error budgets

https://github.com/federicolepera/slok
1•lep_qq•59s ago•0 comments

Report Claims iPhone 18 Pro Camera Will Get Major Sensor Upgrade

https://xthe.com/news/iphone-18-pro-camera-leak/
2•Sandhyaseo•3m ago•0 comments

Anyone want to share their developer onboarding horror stories?

https://calendly.com/benjamin-martin-prismic/15min
1•jeangilles•3m ago•1 comments

So you want to get into electronics?

https://dmytroengineering.com/content/write-ups/so-you-want-to-get-into-electronics
1•vitalnodo•3m ago•0 comments

The Hidden Engineering of Runways

https://practical.engineering/blog/2026/1/20/the-hidden-engineering-of-runways
2•crescit_eundo•5m ago•0 comments

Explainable Query Tagging (NLP)

https://emiruz.com/post/2026-01-17-qu-tagger/
1•usgroup•5m ago•0 comments

The Empathy of Instructions

https://seths.blog/2026/01/the-empathy-of-instructions/
1•zdw•5m ago•0 comments

Benchmarking OpenTelemetry: Can AI trace your failed login?

https://quesma.com/blog/introducing-otel-bench/
2•stared•7m ago•0 comments

Could ChatGPT convince you to buy something? AI gears up to sell ads

https://theconversation.com/could-chatgpt-convince-you-to-buy-something-threat-of-manipulation-lo...
1•zdw•7m ago•0 comments

Show HN: BlitzBrowser – Browsers in Docker with user data storage and proxy

https://github.com/blitzbrowser/blitzbrowser
1•sam_march•8m ago•1 comments

Show HN: An open-source personal finance simulator with AI features

https://www.ignidash.com
1•schelskedevco•8m ago•0 comments

The Unix Pipe Card Game

https://punkx.org/unix-pipe-game/
2•kykeonaut•9m ago•0 comments

WebAssembly Clouds: The World After Containers

https://wasmer.io/posts/wasm-clouds-the-world-after-containers
3•syrusakbary•9m ago•0 comments

Updated Debian 13: 13.3 released

https://www.debian.org/News/2026/20260110
3•teleforce•9m ago•0 comments

Help Less, AI Powered Autocomplete in Bash and Zsh

https://autocomplete.sh/
1•Owen-Grumbles•9m ago•0 comments

Developing with AI on Ubuntu

https://jnsgr.uk/2026/01/developing-with-ai-on-ubuntu
2•jnsgruk•10m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Loci – Visual knowledge map with auto-generated flashcards and FSRS

https://github.com/lmanhes/loci
2•omnitrol•10m ago•0 comments

Ask HN: Lessons from building AI automation for non-tech businesses

1•mishrapravin441•13m ago•0 comments

Interactive AAD Benchmarks: Automatic Differentiation for Derivatives Pricing

https://matlogica.com/technology/benchmarks/interactive-benchmarks/
1•NatalijaAAD•13m ago•0 comments

Canada's Military Has Modeled Hypothetical US Invasion

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-01-20/canada-s-military-has-modeled-hypothetical-us-...
5•belter•14m ago•1 comments

Show HN: Fastjsondiff – Fastest JSON Diff in Python Powered by Zig

https://github.com/adilkhash/fastjsondiff
2•adilkhash•14m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Promptcmd: AI prompts manager that turns prompts into runnable programs

https://promptcmd.sh/
2•tgalal•14m ago•0 comments

Orb and the End of Enterprise Software

https://kshitijgrover.com/orb-and-the-end-of-enterprise-software
1•nadis•15m ago•0 comments

Controlling the Wizzard

https://www.leadedsolder.com/2026/01/20/creativision-clone-snes-controller-board-prototype.html
1•zdw•15m ago•0 comments

Self-healing nuclear fuel could improve safety, reduce waste in reactors

https://techxplore.com/news/2025-12-nuclear-fuel-safety-reactors.html
1•PaulHoule•16m ago•0 comments

Ask HN: How do you keep system context from rotting over time?

1•kennethops•17m ago•0 comments

Show HN: ChartGPU – WebGPU charting library, 1M+ points at 60fps

https://github.com/ChartGPU/ChartGPU
2•huntergemmer•18m ago•0 comments