GPU Gems 2 is the second-generation textbook for programming with graphics processing units. These days, assembly language is no longer de rigeur for developing games that take advantage of GPU's advanced processing and rendering abilities -- knowledge of high-level programming languages such as HLSL, GLSL, and Cg, along with APIs such as Direct3D and OpenGL are far more useful in this field than assembly.
This textbook is intended for new programmers interested in these technologies and techniques, as well as pros who want a desktop reference. Editors Matt Pharr and Randima Fernando have pulled together an international team of experts (mostly PhD candidates and computer science instructors, as well as programmers and hardware specialists from the videogame and computer hardware industries) to write chapters on subjects including photorealism, terrain rendering, hardware resource management, lighting and shading, and hair rendering, to name a few. The book is not just for videogame designers -- there are chapters on using GPUs for mapping protein structures, rendering medical scans, performing complex algorithmic calculations, and even calculating options "fair values."
GPU Gems 2 is published by Addison Wesley in conjunction with the nVidia corporation.It costs $60.
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