In Swift 3.1, UnsafeMutablePointer.initialize(from:) is deprecated - swift

In Swift 3.1, UnsafeMutablePointer.initialize(from:) is deprecated. Xcode suggests I use UnsafeMutableBufferPointer.initialize(from:) instead. I have a code block that looks like this:
let pointer = UnsafeMutablePointer<UInt8>.allocate(capacity: 64)
pointer.initialize(from: repeatElement(0, count: 64))
The code gives me a compile time warning because of the deprecation. So I'm going to change that to:
let pointer = UnsafeMutablePointer<UInt8>.allocate(capacity: 64)
let buffer = UnsafeMutableBufferPointer(start: pointer, count: 64)
_ = buffer.initialize(from: repeatElement(0, count: 64))
Is this the right way to do this? I just wanted to make sure that I'm doing it correctly.

It is correct, but you can allocate and initialize memory slightly simpler with
let pointer = UnsafeMutablePointer<UInt8>.allocate(capacity: 64)
pointer.initialize(to: 0, count: 64)
Creating a buffer pointer view can still be useful because that
is a collection, has a count property and can be enumerated:
let buffer = UnsafeMutableBufferPointer(start: pointer, count: 64)
for byte in buffer {
// ...
}
but that is independent of how the memory is initialized.

Related

How to use Metal argument buffer?

I am trying to use Metal argument buffers to access data in a Metal compute kernel.
The buffer has an entry when I print out the value CPU-side, but the Xcode debugger shows my argument buffer as empty on the GPU.
I can see my buffer with the sentinel value as an indirect resource in the debugger but no pointer to it in the argument buffer.
Here is the Swift code:
import MetalKit
do {
let device = MTLCreateSystemDefaultDevice()!
let capture_manager = MTLCaptureManager.shared()
let capture_desc = MTLCaptureDescriptor()
capture_desc.captureObject = device
try capture_manager.startCapture(with: capture_desc)
let argument_desc = MTLArgumentDescriptor()
argument_desc.dataType = MTLDataType.pointer
argument_desc.index = 0
argument_desc.arrayLength = 1024
let argument_encoder = device.makeArgumentEncoder(arguments: [argument_desc])!
let argument_buffer = device.makeBuffer(length: argument_encoder.encodedLength, options: MTLResourceOptions())
argument_encoder.setArgumentBuffer(argument_buffer, offset: 0)
var sentinel: UInt32 = 12345
let ptr = UnsafeRawPointer.init(&sentinel)
let buffer = device.makeBuffer(bytes: ptr, length: 4, options: MTLResourceOptions.storageModeShared)!
argument_encoder.setBuffer(buffer, offset: 0, index: 0)
let source = try String(contentsOf: URL.init(fileURLWithPath: "/path/to/kernel.metal"))
let library = try device.makeLibrary(source: source, options: MTLCompileOptions())
let function = library.makeFunction(name: "main0")!
let pipeline = try device.makeComputePipelineState(function: function)
let queue = device.makeCommandQueue()!
let encoder = queue.makeCommandBuffer()!
let compute_encoder = encoder.makeComputeCommandEncoder()!
compute_encoder.setComputePipelineState(pipeline)
compute_encoder.setBuffer(argument_buffer, offset: 0, index: 0)
compute_encoder.useResource(buffer, usage: MTLResourceUsage.read)
compute_encoder.dispatchThreads(MTLSize.init(width: 1, height: 1, depth: 1), threadsPerThreadgroup: MTLSize.init(width: 1, height: 1, depth: 1))
compute_encoder.endEncoding()
encoder.commit()
encoder.waitUntilCompleted()
capture_manager.stopCapture()
} catch {
print(error)
exit(1)
}
And the compute kernel:
#include <metal_stdlib>
#include <simd/simd.h>
using namespace metal;
struct Argument {
constant uint32_t *ptr [[id(0)]];
};
kernel void main0(
constant Argument *bufferArray [[buffer(0)]]
) {
constant uint32_t *ptr = bufferArray[0].ptr;
uint32_t y = *ptr;
}
If anyone has any ideas, I'd greatly appreciate it!
Seems that Metal optimizes out the kernel or something along that line since it only performs read operations.
Changing the kernel to write to the buffer makes everything work and show up properly in the Xcode debugger.

Problem accessing MTLBuffer via typed UnsafeMutualPointer

I have a function that is passed an optional MTLBuffer. My goal is to iteratively change values in that buffer using an index into a Typed pointer to the same buffer. However, when I run the code, I'm getting an error "Thread 1: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (code=2, address=0x1044f1000)".
Am I converting to the Typed UnsafeMutablePointer correctly?
Would it be better to covert to a Typed UnsafeMutableBufferPointer? If so, how would I convert from the MTLBuffer to Typed UnsafeMutableBufferPointer?
Any idea why I'm getting this error?
Note: I've removed most guard checks to keep this simple. I've confirmed the MTLDevice (via device), bufferA allocation, dataPtr and floatPtr are all non-nil. floatPtr and dataPtr do point to the same memory address.
This is how I allocate the buffer:
bufferSize = 16384
bufferA = device?.makeBuffer(length: bufferSize, options: MTLResourceOptions.storageModeShared)`
Here's my code operating on the buffer:
guard let dataPtr = bufferA?.contents() else {
fatalError("error retrieving buffer?.contents() in generateRandomFloatData()")
}
let floatPtr = dataPtr.bindMemory(to: Float.self, capacity: bufferA!.length)
for index in 0...bufferSize - 1 {
floatPtr[index] = 1.0 // Float.random(in: 0...Float.greatestFiniteMagnitude)
}
Thank you!
Am I converting to the Typed UnsafeMutablePointer correctly?
NO.
When you call makeBuffer(length:options:) you pass the length in bytes.
But, a Float occupies 4 bytes in memory.
So, you may need to modify some parts related to number of elements:
let floatPtr = dataPtr.bindMemory(to: Float.self, capacity: bufferA!.length/MemoryLayout<Float>.stride)
for index in 0..<bufferSize/MemoryLayout<Float>.stride {
floatPtr[index] = 1.0 // Float.random(in: 0...Float.greatestFiniteMagnitude)
}

Swift Array(bufferPointer) EXC_BAD_ACCESS crash

I am receiving audio buffers and I am converting them into a conventional array for ease of use. This code has always been reliable. However, recently it began crashing quite frequently. I am using Airpods when it crashes, which may or may not be part of the problem. The mic object is an AKMicrophone object from AudioKit.
func tap(){
let recordingFormat = mic.outputNode.inputFormat(forBus: 0)
mic.outputNode.removeTap(onBus: 0)
mic.outputNode.installTap(onBus: 0,
bufferSize: UInt32(recordingBufferSize),
format: recordingFormat)
{ (buffer, when) in
let stereoDataUnsafePointer = buffer.floatChannelData!
let monoPointer = stereoDataUnsafePointer.pointee
let count = self.recordingBufferSize
let bufferPointer = UnsafeBufferPointer(start: monoPointer, count: count)
let array = Array(bufferPointer) //CRASHES HERE
}
mic.start()
}
When running on iPhone 7 with airpods, this crashes about 7/10 times with one of two different error messages:
EXC_BAD_ACCESS
Fatal error: UnsafeMutablePointer.initialize overlapping range
If the way I was converting the array was wrong I would expect it to crash every time. I speculate that the recording sample rate could be an issue.
I figured out the answer. I hardcoded the buffer size to 10000, and when initiating the tap, specified buffer size of 10000. However, the device ignored this buffer size and instead sent me buffers that were 6400. This meant when I tried to initialize an array of with size 10000 it went off the end. I modified code to check the actual buffer size, not the size I requested:
let stereoDataUnsafePointer = buffer.floatChannelData!
let monoPointer = stereoDataUnsafePointer.pointee
let count = buffer.frameLength //<--Check actual buffer size
let bufferPointer = UnsafeBufferPointer(start: monoPointer, count: Int(count))
let array = Array(bufferPointer)

Swift UnsafeMutablePointer: Must I call deinitialize before deallocate?

Given an instance of UnsafeMutablePointer, what's the point of calling deinitialize(count:) right before deallocate(capacity:)?
Can't you just call deallocate(capacity:)?
I saw this when reading the section "Using Typed Pointers" of the article Unsafe Swift: Using Pointers And Interacting With C on raywenderlich.com.
The article contains the code below, which you can add to a new playground in Xcode.
let count = 2
let stride = MemoryLayout<Int>.stride
let alignment = MemoryLayout<Int>.alignment
let byteCount = stride * count
do {
print("Typed pointers")
let pointer = UnsafeMutablePointer<Int>.allocate(capacity: count)
pointer.initialize(to: 0, count: count)
defer {
pointer.deinitialize(count: count)
pointer.deallocate(capacity: count)
}
pointer.pointee = 42
pointer.advanced(by: 1).pointee = 6
pointer.pointee
pointer.advanced(by: 1).pointee
let bufferPointer = UnsafeBufferPointer(start: pointer, count: count)
for (index, value) in bufferPointer.enumerated() {
print("value \(index): \(value)")
}
}
The article explains below the code, if you keep reading.
Update: as noted by user atrick in the comments below, deinitialization is only required for non-trivial types. That said, including deinitialization is a good way to future proof your code in case you change to something non-trivial. Also, it usually doesn’t cost anything since the compiler will optimize it out.

How do I update a statement of Data of UnsafePointer for Swift 3?

I'm getting the error below for this statement:
let data = Data(bytes: UnsafePointer<UInt8>(cubeData), count: cubeData.count * MemoryLayout<Float>.size)
cubeData is defined as: var cubeData = [Float](repeating: 0, count: size * size * size * 4)
Error:
'init' is unavailable: use 'withMemoryRebound(to:capacity:_)' to temporarily view memory as another layout-compatible type.
How can I fix this?
Thanks!
You could use Array.withUnsafeBufferPointer to obtain a buffer pointer (i.e. a pointer to an array with its length). Then use Data.init(buffer:) to initiate the data from a buffer pointer.
let cubeData: [Float] = [1.1, 2.2, 3.3, 4.4]
let b = cubeData.withUnsafeBufferPointer { Data(buffer: $0) }
print(b as NSData)
// <cdcc8c3f cdcc0c40 33335340 cdcc8c40>