Toucan

Overview

This is not an officially supported Google product.

Toucan is an experimental, domain-specific language for accelerated graphical applications. It was designed to answer the following question: "Could a unified programming environment reduce the friction of developing CPU/GPU apps?". Built on WebGPU and featuring unified CPU/GPU SIMD datatypes, syntax and API, it aims for native-level performance with a single, concise source. It currently runs on Windows, MacOS, Linux, Android, iOS, and Web.

For further information, see this presentation and this document.

Viewing the Toucan samples

If you simply wish to try some live Toucan demos without building the toolchain, navigate to the Toucan Samples page and follow the instructions.

Building the Toucan toolchain

Prerequisites

Python 3.0
CMake
A C++20 toolchain (clang, gcc, or MSVC)
GNU flex
GNU bison
node.js and npm (for the WebAssembly build)

Toucan uses the GN and ninja build systems from the Chromium project. These will be retrieved by the git-sync-deps script.

Target executables

tj: the Toucan JIT compiler. Accepts a single Toucan file, performs compilation, semantic analysis, code generation, JITs the result, and runs it with an embedded runtime API. Runs on Windows/D3D11, Mac/Metal (x86) and Linux/Vulkan.
tc: the Toucan static compiler. Performs compilation, semantic analysis and code generation, and produces a native executable. Targets all of the above, plus the Web (via WebAssembly).
springy: a particle-based physics demo, with a 10x10 grid of particles
springy-compute: the same particle demo, running in a compute shader
springy-3d: a larger, 3D mesh version of "springy"
springy-compute-3d: a compute-based version of "springy-3d"
shiny: a cube-mapped reflective Utah teapot, rendered in a skybox

Build instructions (Linux, Mac)

Run tools/git-sync-deps to update third_party dependencies
Build LLVM (Makefiles):

   pushd third_party/llvm/llvm
   mkdir -p out/Release
   cd out/Release
   cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DLLVM_ENABLE_PROJECTS="lld;clang" -DLLVM_TARGETS_TO_BUILD="host;X86;ARM;AArch64;WebAssembly" -DLLVM_BUILD_LLVM_DYLIB=On -DLLVM_DYLIB_COMPONENTS=all -DLLVM_INCLUDE_BENCHMARKS=false -DLLVM_INCLUDE_EXAMPLES=false -DLLVM_INCLUDE_TESTS=false ../..
   make
   popd

Build tc, tj and native samples:

   mkdir -p out/Release
   echo "is_debug=false" > out/Release/args.gn
   gn gen out/Release
   ninja -C out/Release

Build instructions (Windows)

Run tools\git-sync-deps.bat to update third_party dependencies
Build LLVM (Visual Studio project files):

   pushd third_party\llvm\llvm
   mkdir out
   cd out
   cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DLLVM_ENABLE_PROJECTS="lld;clang" -DLLVM_TARGETS_TO_BUILD="host;X86;ARM;AArch64;WebAssembly" -DLLVM_INCLUDE_BENCHMARKS=false -DLLVM_INCLUDE_EXAMPLES=false -DLLVM_INCLUDE_TESTS=false ..
   cmake --build . --config Release
   popd

Install Bison and Flex:

   python3 tools/fetch-win-flex-bison.py

Build tc, tj and native samples:

   mkdir out\Release
   echo is_debug=false > out\Release\args.gn
   gn gen out\Release
   ninja -C out\Release

Build instructions (Android)

Run tools/git-sync-deps to update third_party dependencies
Install Java 17 or later.
Install the Android SDK command line tools, and ensure ANDROID_SDK_ROOT is set.
Install all required Android SDK components:

$ANDROID_SDK_ROOT/cmdline-tools/latest/bin/sdkmanager --install 'platforms;android-26' 'ndk;26.3.11579264' 'build-tools;34.0.0' platform-tools

or on Windows:

%ANDROID_SDK_ROOT%\cmdline-tools\latest\bin\sdkmanager --install platforms;android-26 ndk;26.3.11579264 build-tools;34.0.0 platform-tools

Set ANDROID_NDK_ROOT to $ANDROID_SDK_ROOT/ndk/26.3.11579264.
Build LLVM (Makefiles):

   pushd third_party/llvm/llvm
   mkdir -p out/Release
   cd out/Release
   cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DLLVM_ENABLE_PROJECTS="lld;clang" -DLLVM_TARGETS_TO_BUILD="host;X86;ARM;AArch64;WebAssembly" -DLLVM_INCLUDE_BENCHMARKS=false -DLLVM_INCLUDE_EXAMPLES=false -DLLVM_INCLUDE_TESTS=false ../..
   make
   popd

Build tc and native samples:

   mkdir -p out/Release-android
   echo is_debug=false > out/Release-android/args.gn
   echo target_os=\"android\" >> out/Release-android/args.gn
   echo target_cpu=\"arm64\" >> out/Release-android/args.gn
   echo android_ndk_dir=\"$ANDROID_NDK_ROOT\" >> out/Release-android/args.gn
   echo android_sdk_dir=\"$ANDROID_SDK_ROOT\" >> out/Release-android/args.gn
   gn gen out/Release-android
   ninja -C out/Release-android

Build instructions (iOS)

Run tools/git-sync-deps to update third_party dependencies
Install the appropriate SDK for iOS development.
Sign into a developer account at https://developer.apple.com.
Set a TEAM_IDENTIFIER environment varaible to your developer account's 10-character team ID.
Generate a Development certificate, download it to your Mac, and add it to your Keychain.
Set a CODESIGN_IDENTITY environment variable to the 10-character identifier of your certificate.
Register your iOS development Device at https://developer.apple.com/account/resources/devices/add.
Generate an App ID for the samples, with Bundle ID org.toucanlang.sample.*.
Register an "iOS App Development" provisioning profile at https://developer.apple.com/account/resources/profiles/add with the App ID you generated in the previous step and your MacOS and iOS development devices. Download it to your Mac and set MOBILE_PROVISION_FILE environment variable to its downloaded file path.
Build LLVM (Makefiles):

   pushd third_party/llvm/llvm
   mkdir -p out/Release
   cd out/Release
   cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DLLVM_ENABLE_PROJECTS="lld;clang" -DLLVM_TARGETS_TO_BUILD="host;X86;ARM;AArch64;WebAssembly" -DLLVM_INCLUDE_BENCHMARKS=false -DLLVM_INCLUDE_EXAMPLES=false -DLLVM_INCLUDE_TESTS=false ../..
   make
   popd

Build tc and native samples:

   mkdir -p out/Release-ios
   echo is_debug=false > out/Release-ios/args.gn
   echo target_os=\"ios\" >> out/Release-ios/args.gn
   echo mobile_provision=\"$MOBILE_PROVISION_FILE\" >> out/Release-ios/args.gn
   echo codesign_identity=\"$CODESIGN_IDENTITY\" >> out/Release-ios/args.gn
   echo team_identifier=\"$TEAM_IDENTIFIER\" >> out/Release-ios/args.gn
   gn gen out/Release-ios
   ninja -C out/Release-ios

Build instructions (WebAssembly)

Bootstrap emscripten

pushd third_party/emscripten
./bootstrap
popd

Build binaryen

pushd third_party/binaryen
git submodule init
git submodule update
cmake . && make
popd

Build WASM targets

mkdir -p out/Release-wasm
echo 'is_debug=false\
target_os="wasm"\
target_cpu="wasm"' > out/Release-wasm/args.gn
gn gen out/Release-wasm
ninja -C out/Release-wasm

Running tj, the Toucan JIT:

out/DIR/tj <filename>

e.g., out/Release/tj samples/springy.t

Running native samples

out/DIR/<filename>

e.g., out/Release/springy

Running WebAssembly samples

npx http-server out/Release-wasm
start Chrome with the runtime flag --enable-features=WebAssemblyExperimentalJSPI, or enable "Experimental WebAssembly JavaScript Promise Integration (JSPI)" in about:flags
open http://localhost:8080
open sample (e.g., springy.html)

Installing and running Android samples

$ANDROID_SDK_ROOT/platform-tools/adb install -r out/Release-android/$SAMPLE.apk
$ANDROID_SDK_ROOT/platform-tools/adb shell am start -a android.intent.action.MAIN -n org.toucanlang.$SAMPLE/android.app.NativeActivity

e.g.,

$ANDROID_SDK_ROOT/platform-tools/adb install -r out/Release-android/springy.apk
$ANDROID_SDK_ROOT/platform-tools/adb shell am start -a android.intent.action.MAIN -n org.toucanlang.springy/android.app.NativeActivity

Installing and running iOS samples

xcrun devicectl device install app out/Release-ios/${SAMPLE}.ipa --device ${IOS_DEVICE_ID}
xcrun devicectl device process launch --device ${IOS_DEVICE_ID} "org.toucanlang.sample.${SAMPLE}"

e.g.,

xcrun devicectl device install app out/Release-ios/springy.ipa --device ${IOS_DEVICE_ID}
xcrun devicectl device process launch --device ${IOS_DEVICE_ID} "org.toucanlang.sample.springy"

Testing instructions

There is a primitive test harness in test/test.py, and a set of end-to-end tests. This requires tj, so it is only supported on desktop platforms.

On Linux and MacOS:

test/test.py >& test/test-expectations.txt

On Windows:

python3 test\test.py > test\test-expectations.txt 2>&1
python3 tools\unixify.py test\test-expectations.txt

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 226 Commits
api		api
ast		ast
bench		bench
bindings		bindings
build_overrides		build_overrides
codegen		codegen
compilers		compilers
emscripten		emscripten
gn		gn
parser		parser
samples		samples
test		test
third_party		third_party
tools		tools
utils		utils
.clang-format		.clang-format
.emscripten		.emscripten
.gitignore		.gitignore
.gn		.gn
AUTHORS		AUTHORS
BUILD.gn		BUILD.gn
CONTRIBUTING.md		CONTRIBUTING.md
DEPS		DEPS
LICENSE		LICENSE
README.md		README.md
TODO		TODO
toucan_executable.gni		toucan_executable.gni

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Toucan

Overview

Viewing the Toucan samples

Building the Toucan toolchain

Prerequisites

Target executables

Build instructions (Linux, Mac)

Build instructions (Windows)

Build instructions (Android)

Build instructions (iOS)

Build instructions (WebAssembly)

Running tj, the Toucan JIT:

Running native samples

Running WebAssembly samples

Installing and running Android samples

Installing and running iOS samples

Testing instructions

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Toucan

Overview

Viewing the Toucan samples

Building the Toucan toolchain

Prerequisites

Target executables

Build instructions (Linux, Mac)

Build instructions (Windows)

Build instructions (Android)

Build instructions (iOS)

Build instructions (WebAssembly)

Running tj, the Toucan JIT:

Running native samples

Running WebAssembly samples

Installing and running Android samples

Installing and running iOS samples

Testing instructions

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