[exDM69]

You can use descriptor heaps with existing bindless shaders if you configure the optional "root signature".

However it looks like it's simpler to change your shaders (if you can) to use the new GLSL/SPIR-V functionality (or Slang) and don't specify the root signature at all (it's complex and verbose).

Descriptor heaps really reduce the amount of setup code needed, with pipeline layouts gone you can drop like third of the code needed to get started.

Similar in magnitude to dynamic rendering.

[flohofwoe]

Having quite recently written a (still experimental) Vulkan backend for sokol_gfx.h, my impression is that starting with `VK_EXT_descriptor_buffer` (soon-ish to be replaced with `VK_EXT_descriptor_heap`), the "core API" is in pretty good shape now (with the remaining problem that all the outdated and depreciated sediment layers are still part of the core API, this should really be kicked out - e.g. when I explicitly request a specific API version like 1.4 I don't care about any features that have been deprecated in versions up to 1.4 and I don't care about any extensions that have been incorporated into the core API up until 1.4, so I'd really like to have them at least not show up in the Vulkan header so that code completion cannot sneak in outdated code (like EXT/KHR postfixes for things that have been moved into core).

The current OpenGL-like sediment-layer-model (e.g. never remove old stuff) is extremely confusing when not following Vulkan development very closely since 2016, since there's often 5 ways to do the same thing, 3 of which are deprecated - but finding out whether a feature is deprecated is its own sidequest.

What I actually wrestled with most was getting the outer frame-loop right without validation layer errors. I feel like this should be the next thing which the "Eye of Khronos" should focus on.

All official tutorial/example code I've tried doesn't run without swapchain-sync-related validation errors on one or another configuration. Even this 'best practices' example code which demonstrates how to do the frame-loop scaffolding correctly produces valiation layer errors, so it's also quite useless:

https://docs.vulkan.org/guide/latest/swapchain_semaphore_reu...

What's worse: different hardware/driver combos produce different validation layer errors (even in the swapchain-code which really shouldn't have different implementations across GPU vendors - e.g. shouldn't Khronos provide common reference code for those GPU-independent parts of drivers?). I wonder if there is actually any Vulkan code out there which is completely validation-layer-clean across all possible configs (I seriously doubt it).

Also the VK_[EXT/KHR]_swapchain_maintenance1 extension which is supposed to fix all those little warts has such a low coverage that it's not worth supporting (but it should really be part of the core API by now - the extension is from 2019).

Anyway... baby steps into the right direction, only a shame that it took a decade ;)

[reactordev]

Vulkan is by far the most powerful and the most pain in the ass API I've ever worked with. I agree on every point you just made.

[sho_hn]

Are there any good Vulkan tutorials that are continuously updated to reflect these advancement and ease of use improvements?

It's a similar challenge to the many different historical strata of C++ resources.

[jsheard]

https://howtovulkan.com is a recent one which targets the modern flavour of Vulkan that everything supports today.

Well, all desktop hardware and drivers at least. God help you if you want to ship on Android.

[dismalaf]

The one on Vulkan.org recently got updated to use dynamic rendering and a bunch of the newest features (plus modern C++, Slang instead of glsl, etc...).

https://docs.vulkan.org/tutorial/latest/00_Introduction.html

[positron26]

Finding the optimal sub-language is about API coupling with client code, making a moving sweet spot for where bread & butter techniques live.