Fixed-Size Arrays
A fixed-size array type is declared as array<T,N> , where T is the element type (with some restrictions), and N is the element count.
In most cases N is a const-expression.
There is one exception to this rule: When the array is used as the type of a workgroup variable, N can be an override-expression. That means the array size can be adjusted at pipeline-creation time. It’s still “fixed” before the shader executes.
Examples:
array<f32,5> | A 5-element array of f32. |
array<array<f32,4>,8> | An array of 8 arrays of 4 f32’s. |
array<S,c> | An array of c elements of type S. Here c must be const-declared. |
array<i32,4*blockSize> | An array of i32 with 4 * blockSize elements. Here blockSize must be const-declared. |
With the one exception above, fixed-size array values can be used like other plain values, for example:
- in an expression,
- passed as a function argument,
- returned from a function,
- assigned to a variable, or
- used as the initializer for a variable or declared value.