WebGPU: Texture and Sampler Lets

Category: Graphics
Type: New or changed feature
Status: Proposed (Chrome Proposed)
Intent stage: None

Breaking change: No
Enterprise impact: None
Spec maturity: Unknown status
Web Platform Tests: Yes

WPT details: WebGPU/WGSL have a conformance test suite (https://github.com/gpuweb/cts) that is regularly pulled into Chromium and part of the testing of Dawn/Tint in Chromium. While the CTS can be embedded in WPT, the WebGPU team opted to keep it separate in Chromium testing to use a customized harness for robustness and performance. CTS: https://github.com/gpuweb/cts/pull/4490

Summary

Add a language feature to WGSL, `texture_and_sampler_let` that adds the ability to store texture and sampler objects into a let declaration in WGSL.

Motivation

To allow storing texture and samples in WGSL shaders into lets. This allows creating local names for what are usually global objects.

Standards & signals

Specification: https://github.com/gpuweb/gpuweb/pull/5389
Firefox: No signal — Mozilla members have approved https://github.com/gpuweb/gpuweb/pull/5389 and requested during weekly standardization meetings that we postpone filing standard positions until we reach Candidate Recommendation (CR) status in Q4.
Safari: Closed Without a Position
Web developers: No signals
Tracking bug: https://crbug.com/459500757

Ecosystem

Web Platform Tests: https://wpt.fyi/results/?q=webgpu%2FWGSL
Chrome Platform Showcase: https://chrome-platform-showcase.paulkinlan-ea.deno.net/features
GenDN reference: https://gendn.paulkinlan-ea.deno.net/features
chrome.dev demos search: https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Achrome.dev+WebGPU%3A%20Texture%20and%20Sampler%20Lets
MDN Web Docs: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/search?q=WebGPU%3A%20Texture%20and%20Sampler%20Lets
Baseline status: https://webstatus.dev/?q=WebGPU%3A%20Texture%20and%20Sampler%20Lets

Explainers: https://github.com/gpuweb/gpuweb/issues/5339

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