Should pointers be 64-bit?

With the current 32-bit pointer width, raw physical pointers are unconvenient at best and open up a bunch of pitfalls at worst.

Technically, pointers should be 64-bit, at least when any physical addressing model is enabled.
This is problematic because of the preferred integer width of 32-bit in shaders, while Rust assumes usize in most APIs.

Is there any way we could switch to a 64-bit target without compromising performance?
For example

• Add optimization passes to convert usize -> u32 for logical ops
• Add a custom SPIR-V type for usize that somehow gets inferred late
• Customize core to add u32 indexing

On the other hand, physical pointers in shaders are somewhat niche, especially with more progress towards better bindless extension.

Commencez par examiner le PR #237 associé et la discussion de l’issue sur les pointeurs 32 bits, l’adressage physique, la largeur des entiers des shaders et les API usize de Rust. Déterminez si une cible 64 bits peut être prise en charge sans compromettre les performances des opérations logiques, et documentez une orientation viable ou les raisons pour lesquelles cela n’est pas pratique.