Summary

Enhancements for loading/storing a short vector from/to a char array, loading/storing a byte vector from/to a boolean array, and new vector comparison operators for unsigned comparisons with integral vectors.

Problem

The Vector API does not provide specializations for vectors whose lane element type is char or boolean.

Solution

Rather than adding a new class CharVector, leverage the existing ShortVector class by providing methods to load/store a ShortVector from/to char arrays.

Since a ShortVector may be loaded from a source of unsigned data (such as a char array), with no loss of information, it is useful to provide unsigned comparison operators. Thus signed vector lane elements may be operated on as if they are unsigned values. In general, the unsigned comparison operators are supported on all vectors whose element type is an integral type.

Rather than adding a new class BooleanVector (or reusing VectorMask<E>), leverage the existing ByteVector class by providing methods to load/store a ByteVector from/to boolean arrays.

Specification

Please see the JavaDoc and specdiff linked here and attached:

http://cr.openjdk.java.net/~psandoz/panama/JEP-JDK-8261663-vector-api-review/docs/api/jdk.incubator.vector/jdk/incubator/vector/package-summary.html

http://cr.openjdk.java.net/~psandoz/panama/JEP-JDK-8261663-vector-api-review/specdiff/overview-summary.html

Summarizing the main changes herein. The following methods are added to ShortVector to load/store a short vector from/to a char array:

 public static  ShortVector fromCharArray​(VectorSpecies<Short> species,
    char[] a, int offset) 
 public static  ShortVector fromCharArray​(VectorSpecies<Short> species, 
    char[] a, int offset, 
    VectorMask<Short> m) 
 public static  ShortVector fromCharArray​(VectorSpecies<Short> species, 
    char[] a, int offset, 
    int[] indexMap, int mapOffset) 
 public static  ShortVector fromCharArray​(VectorSpecies<Short> species, 
    char[] a, int offset, 
    int[] indexMap, int mapOffset, VectorMask<Short> m) 

 public final  void intoCharArray​(char[] a, int offset) 
 public final  void intoCharArray​(char[] a, int offset, 
    VectorMask<Short> m) 
 public final  void intoCharArray​(char[] a, int offset, 
    int[] indexMap, int mapOffset) 
 public final  void intoCharArray​(char[] a, int offset, 
    int[] indexMap, int mapOffset, VectorMask<Short> m) 

The following methods are added to ByteVector to load/store a byte vector from/to a boolean array:

 public static  ByteVector fromBooleanArray​(VectorSpecies<Byte> species, 
    boolean[] a, int offset) 
 public static  ByteVector fromBooleanArray​(VectorSpecies<Byte> species,
    boolean[] a, int offset, 
    VectorMask<Byte> m) 
 public static  ByteVector fromBooleanArray​(VectorSpecies<Byte> species, 
    boolean[] a, int offset, 
    int[] indexMap, int mapOffset) 
 public static  ByteVector fromBooleanArray​(VectorSpecies<Byte> species, 
    boolean[] a, int offset, 
    int[] indexMap, int mapOffset, VectorMask<Byte> m) 

 public final  void intoBooleanArray​(boolean[] a, int offset) 
 public final  void intoBooleanArray​(boolean[] a, int offset, 
    VectorMask<Byte> m) 
 public final  void intoBooleanArray​(boolean[] a, int offset, 
    int[] indexMap, int mapOffset) 
 public final  void intoBooleanArray​(boolean[] a, int offset, 
    int[] indexMap, int mapOffset, VectorMask<Byte> m) 

The following operators are added as constant fields to VectorOperators:

 public static final  VectorOperators.Comparison UNSIGNED_LT 
 public static final  VectorOperators.Comparison UNSIGNED_LE 
 public static final  VectorOperators.Comparison UNSIGNED_GT 
 public static final  VectorOperators.Comparison UNSIGNED_GE