History of the GPU - Eras and Environment

Dr. Jon Peddie is a recognized pioneer in the graphics industry, President of Jon Peddie Research, and named one of the world’s most influential analysts. Peddie has been an ACM distinguished speaker and is currently an IEEE Distinguished visitor. He lectures at numerous conferences and universities on topics about graphics technology and the emerging trends in digital media technology. Former President of Siggraph Pioneers, he serves on the advisory boards of several conferences, organizations, and companies and contributes articles to numerous publications. In 2015, he was given the Life Time Achievement award from the CAAD society. Peddie has published hundreds of papers to date; and authored and contributed to eleven books, His most recent books are, “Augmented Reality, where we all will live", “Ray Tracing, a Tool for all“.

• Foreword.- Preface.- 1 Introduction.- 2 The GPU Functions.- 3 The Major GPU Eras.- 4 The First Era of GPUs.- 5 The GPU Environment—Hardware.- 6 Application Program Interface (API).- 7 The GPU Environment—Software Extensions and Custom Features.- Appendix A: Definitions.- Appendix B: Acronyms.