Re: Candidate Linux ABI for Intel AMX and hypothetical new related features

From: Paul Eggert
Date: Mon Apr 19 2021 - 19:57:47 EST


On 4/19/21 2:33 PM, Len Brown via Libc-alpha wrote:
the AI guys are super excited about matrix multiplication,
but I have a hard time imagining why grep(1) would find a use for it.

I don't. Matrix multiplication is used in modern string-searching algorithms that could be useful in running 'grep' on CPUs that have relevant hardware support. See, for example:

Susanina Y, Yaveyn A, Grigorev S. Modification of Valiant’s Parsing Algorithm for the String-Searching Problem. CIBB 2019. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63061-4_17

Although nowadays this technology is typically proposed for bioinformatics (DNA pattern matching, etc.), it's not that much of a stretch to imagine a future 'grep' or 'diff' that does matrix multiplication. After all, GNU 'diff' currently uses an algorithm designed by a DNA expert.

(We now return you to the regular AMX debates. :-)