Ecma TC57 - HLSL

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Ecma/TC57/2026/XY
Ecma/GA/2026/XY

Minutes of the:	5th meeting of Ecma TC57
held in:	Teleconference
on:	12 May 2026


Chairs:	Chris Bieneman (Microsoft), Farzon Lotfi (Microsoft)
Attendees:	Damyan Pepper (Microsoft), Alexander Johnston (AMD), Tex Riddell (Microsoft), Gregory Roth (Nvidia), Chris Bieneman (Microsoft), Joshua Batista (Microsoft), Daniel Brown (AMD), Kaitlin Peng (Microsoft), Hai Nguyen (Nvidia), Justin Bogner (Microsoft), Helena Kotas (Microsoft), Timothy Corringham (AMD), Ashley Coleman (Microsoft), Mark Herdeg (AMD), Finn Plummer (Microsoft), Farzon Lotfi (Microsoft), Jesse Barker (Invited Expert)
Secretary:	Aki Rose Braun (Ecma International)

1 Welcome, opening and meeting logistics

Chris Bieneman, chair of TC57, began the teleconference and welcomed attendees. Attendees were reminded of the committee’s code of conduct, Ecma’s IPR policy, and TC57’s royalty-free patent policy extension. All attendees were informed that the meeting was recorded and transcribed by Zoom for the purpose of note-taking, and directed to review the video recording and legal disclaimer if they were not familiar.

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Ecma/TC57/2026/XY
Ecma/GA/2026/XY

Minutes of the:	6th meeting of Ecma TC57
held in:	Teleconference
on:	26 May 2026


Chairs:	Chris Bieneman (Microsoft), Farzon Lotfi (Microsoft)
Attendees:	Damyan Pepper (Microsoft), Hai Nguyen (Nvidia), Chris Bieneman (Microsoft), Alexander Johnston (AMD), Gregory Roth (Nvidia), Farzon Lotfi (Microsoft), Finn Plummer (Microsoft), Tex Riddell (Microsoft), Joshua Batista (Microsoft), Timothy Corringham (AMD), Deric Cheung (Microsoft), Jesse Barker (Invited Expert)
Secretary:	Aki Rose Braun (Ecma International)

1 Welcome, opening and meeting logistics

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Ecma/TC57/2026/XY Ecma/GA/2026/XY

Minutes of the:	7th meeting of Ecma TC57
held in:	Teleconference
on:	9 June 2026


Chairs:	Chris Bieneman (Microsoft), Farzon Lotfi (Microsoft)
Attendees:	Chris Bieneman (Microsoft), Alexander Johnston (AMD), Kaitlin Peng (Microsoft), Daniel Brown (AMD), Farzon Lotfi (Microsoft), Hai Nguyen (Nvidia), Timothy Corringham (AMD), Gregory Roth (Nvidia), Justin Bogner (Microsoft), Mark Herdeg (AMD), Tex Riddell (Microsoft), Ashley Coleman (Microsoft), Deric Cheung (Microsoft), Joshua Batista (Microsoft), Jesse Barker (Invited Expert)
Secretary:	Aki Rose Braun (Ecma International)

1 Welcome, opening and meeting logistics

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Ecma/TC57/2026/XY Ecma/GA/2026/XY

Minutes of the:	8th meeting of Ecma TC57
held in:	Teleconference
on:	23 June 2026


Chairs:	Chris Bieneman (Microsoft), Farzon Lotfi (Microsoft)
Attendees:	Chris Bieneman (Microsoft), Tex Riddell (Microsoft), Gregory Roth (Nvidia), Alexander Johnston (AMD), Ashley Coleman (Microsoft), Damyan Pepper (Microsoft), Daniel Brown (AMD), Deric Cheung (Microsoft), Farzon Lotfi (Microsoft), João Saffran (Microsoft), Mark Herdeg (AMD), Joshua Batista (Microsoft), Hai Nguyen (Nvidia), Justin Bogner (Microsoft), Jesse Barker (Invited Expert)
Secretary:	Samina Husain (Ecma International)

1 Welcome, opening and meeting logistics

0001 - HLSL 202x and 202y

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Implementation Status

	DXC	Clang
202x	In Progress	In Progress
202y	Not Planned	In Progress

Introduction

This proposal seeks to provide a framework for defining the next two versions of the HLSL programming language. It seeks to define HLSL 202x as a bridge between DXC’s implementation and Clang’s implementation, and HLSL 202y as the next major feature release.

Motivation

The HLSL compiler is undergoing a massive transition moving to Clang, and the language is undergoing a significant transition as we work in Ecma TC57 to specify and standardize it. Since HLSL currently does not have a specification and existing implementations disagree about fundamental behaviors, the new compiler will not be fully compatible with the previous compilers. This will create three conflicting implementations.

0002 - Conforming Literals

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Planned Version: HLSL 202x
PRs: #175
Issues: #73, microsoft/DirectXShaderCompiler#6147, microsoft/DirectXShaderCompiler#3973, microsoft/DirectXShaderCompiler#4683, microsoft/DirectXShaderCompiler#5493, microsoft/DirectXShaderCompiler#6410, shader-slang/slang#1185

Implementation Status

	DXC	Clang
C/C++ Literal Lexing	Complete	Complete
fixed size suffixes (C++23)	Complete	Complete

Introduction

In C-based languages literals are tokens which the compiler interprets in the most basic translation to preserve the exact meaning expressed in the source to the final program.

In HLSL 2021, the handling of literals is complex, undocumented, and inconsistent.

Motivation

The implementation of literal types in DXC today is the source of significant bugs and user confusion. The issues linked in the header are a non-exhaustive sampling of issues (resolved and unresolved) which have stemmed from DXC’s implementation of literal types.

0003 - Simplified Overload Resolution

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Dependencies: #74, #115, #127

Implementation Status

	DXC	Clang
C++-aligned best match	Not Planned	Complete
C++-aligned candidate selection	Not Planned	Complete

Introduction

This proposal suggests adopting an overload resolution algorithm that aligns with C++’s approach to overload resolution. This algorithm will provide more intuitive behavior for users and will bias toward erroring instead of choosing an overload from ambiguous candidate sets.

Motivation

DXC’s overload resolution is near impossible to match completely without inheriting significant implementation details of the compiler. Notabily, the way DXC selects possible overload candidates is different for built-in functions than for user-defined functions, which means that a calls to user-defined functions can resolve differently than calls to built-in functions even if the two functions have identical sets of possible overloads.

0004 - 202x Feature Removals

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Planned Version: 202x
Issues: #300, #291, #259, #135, LLVM #117715

Note: this proposal was introduced in Microsoft’s hlsl-specs as deprecations. In Ecma the proposal is categorized as removals, because the proposal is to not include these features in the first edition of the specification.

Implementation Status

	DXC	Clang
Effects Syntax	https://github.com/microsoft/DirectXShaderCompiler/issues/8480	Completed
Remove `interface` keyword	https://github.com/microsoft/DirectXShaderCompiler/issues/8481	Completed
Remove `uniform` keyword	https://github.com/microsoft/DirectXShaderCompiler/issues/8482	Completed
Error on cbuffer initializer	https://github.com/microsoft/DirectXShaderCompiler/issues/8483	https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/issues/200021

Introduction

HLSL 2021 supports syntaxes and features that either do nothing, or are potentially confusing. This proposal tracks a set of minimal breaking changes for HLSL to remove misleading or confusing functionality.

0005 - Refined cbuffer Contexts

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Planned Version: 202x
Issues: DXC #4514

Implementation Status

	DXC	Clang
Disallow `namespace` in `cbuffer`	https://github.com/microsoft/DirectXShaderCompiler/issues/8484	Completed

Introduction

This proposal aligns cbuffer declarations more closely with syntactic and semantic behaviors that are common in C and C++ to align more closely with user expectation and reduce the need for special case handling in the compiler.

Motivation

The HLSL cbuffer declaration is a source of irregularity within the language semantics, and the interaction between cbuffer declarations and their contained declarations can be different and surprising.

0006 - Restricted Unbounded Arrays

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Planned Version: 202x
PRs: #634

Implementation Status

	DXC	Clang
Restricting unbound array declarations	Not Started	Not Started

Introduction

New restrictions imposed on where declarators of arrays of unknown size can be used legally in HLSL.

Motivation

Arrays of unknown size cause a variety of problems within HLSL. When used as parameters they cannot be copied in and out which violates the base calling convention. For resource arrays, passing arrays of unknown size makes resource initialization fragile across call boundaries.

0007 - Formalized Memory and Execution Model

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Introduction

This proposal seeks to define the memory and execution models for HLSL. The goal is to define a memory and execution model that is understandable to users, portable across a wide variety of GPU hardware, and strikes a balance between full portability and performance.

Motivation

The HLSL and DXIL memory and execution model have never been fully defined. This forces reliance on Windows device certification for behavior conformance, and a general approach that the implementation defines the behavior.

0008 - Numeric Constants

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Implementation Status

	DXC	Clang
hlsl::numeric_limits	Not Started	Not Started

Introduction

A new C++ STL-styled numeric constants interface will enable migrating off older inconsistent language features and make cleaner more concise code.

Motivation

The HLSL Infinity constant syntax violates C token rules by using the # character, and is not consistent with C or C++ language styling, and is ambiguous against C preprocessor tokens. This causes technical challenges by using reserved preprocessor tokens, but also makes the feature foreign and less approachable in a C-like language.

0009 - HLSL Namespace

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Implementation Status

	DXC	Clang
`hlsl` namespace	In Progress (prototype implementation)	In Progress

Introduction

Following conventions of other languages HLSL data types should be moved into a namespace so that they can be disambiguated.

Motivation

As HLSL is evolving to be more source compatible with C++, some HLSL names will begin to conflict with C++ names which mean very different things (i.e. vector) and other names which have subtly different usage (i.e. sin vs sinf). Moving HLSL library functionality into a namespace removes the ambiguity and will prevent common errors in the future as HLSL becomes more C++-like.

0010 - Modern C++ Features

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Issues:
- auto: #24
- decltype: (#82)[https://github.com/microsoft/hlsl-specs/issues/82)
- constexpr: #21 (#74)[https://github.com/microsoft/hlsl-specs/issues/74]
- scoped enums: #284
- variadic templates: #21
- static assert: #33
- simplified nested namespace: #68

Implementation Status

	DXC	Clang
`auto` keyword	Complete	Complete
C++11 template closing `>>`	Complete	Complete
decltype	Not Started	Complete
constexpr	Prototype	Complete
scoped enum	Partial	Complete
static_assert	Prototype	Complete
nested namespace	Not Started	Complete
variadic templates	Not Started	Complete

Introduction

In DXC HLSL is a set of feature extensions on top of a subset of C++98. C++98 is now over 20 years old and most modern C++ users have adopted newer language constructs. This proposal suggests integrating high-impact modern C++ features that should be low-cost to implement.

0011 - Strict Initializer Lists

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Planned Version: 202y
Dependencies: 0003 Overload Resolution

Implementation Status

	DXC	Clang
C/C++ Initializers	Not Planned	Not Started

Introduction

HLSL should adopt C and C++ initializer list parsing rules, rather than custom rules that are unintuitive and error-prone.

Motivation

HLSL supports flattened brace initialization such that the structure of the bracket initializer on the right-hand side of an initialization is ignored, and only the number of initialization arguments matters. Further, vector and matrix arguments are implicitly expanded.

0012 - HLSL Loop Unroll Factor

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Planned Version: 202x
PRs: #276
Impacted Projects: DXC & Clang

Implementation Status

	DXC	Clang
[unroll] doesn’t truncate	Not Started	Complete

Introduction

This proposal seeks to unify the diverging behaviors between the agreed upon spec for HLSL loop unroll and the current behavior of DXC.

The new spec wants to treat the unroll factor as a hint to the compiler for partial loop unroll. The current behavior in DXC is that the unroll factor specifies the maximum number of times the loop is to execute.

0014 - `groupshared` Arguments

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Implementation Status

	DXC	Clang
`groupshared` arguments	Complete	Complete

Introduction

This proposal introduces a new use of the groupshared keyword for function arguments to allow passing groupshared arguments by address rather than by value or copy-in/copy-out.

Motivation

DXC’s implementation of HLSL includes a set of Interlocked functions implementing atomic operations on groupshared memory. These functions are not expressible in HLSL and rely on special case implementation in DXC.

This capability is further used in the DirectX Linear Algebra extension, which adds functions on a class method that rely on passing in large blocks of groupshared memory.

0015 - const-qualified Non-static Member Functions

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Implementation Status

	DXC	Clang
`const` member functions	Prototype implementation	Complete

Introduction

HLSL does not currently support const non-static member functions for user-defined data types. This proposal seeks to add support for const non-static member functions, and to adopt const-correct behaviors across the HLSL library objects.

Motivation

The absence of const non-static member functions causes some challenges since HLSL injected ASTs do have const and non-const non-static member functions. Further, since variables can be const-qualified, without the ability to specify const there are some cases that cannot be worked around without breaking const-correctness.

0016 - Non-member Operator Overloading

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Implementation Status

	DXC	Clang
`const` member functions	Prototype implementation	Complete

Introduction

HLSL 2021 introduced operator overloading for member operators of user defined data types. Only supporting member operators has some drawbacks, specifically defining binary operators where the LHS is a built-in type is impossible, additionally scoping operators to namespaces is also impossible.

Motivation

Beyond common use cases where global operators are nice to have, users adopting HLSL 2021 have provided feedback that global operator overloading would be a significant benefit.

0017 - HLSL Ternary Operator Behavior

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Planned Version: 202x

Introduction

The value category of the conditional (ternary) operator’s result is defined differently in C and C++. HLSL should clearly specify which behavior it follows, and should do so consistently across language versions. This proposal specifies that HLSL adopts the C++ value category rules for the ternary operator going forward, and documents the divergence between existing HLSL versions.

Motivation

C and C++ define the value category of the ternary operator’s result differently:

0018 - User-defined Conversion Functions

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Implementation Status

	DXC	Clang
user-defined conversions	Prototype implementation	Complete

Introduction

User defined conversion functions are an extremly useful mechanism to allow users to define ways that their objects can be converted from one type to another. This allows for complex data transformations as well as simplified syntaxes for common tasks (like checking validity by casting to bool).

Motivation

HLSL 2021 intended to support user-defined conversion functions, but it was realized after release that the feature did not work, so they were disabled in DXC in April 2026.

Building the Spec and Website

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Building the HLSL TC57 Website with Docker

This Dockerfile builds the complete HLSL TC57 website, including both the Hugo static site and the LaTeX specification.

Prerequisites

Docker and Docker Compose installed
Approximately 2GB of disk space for the build
~5-10 minutes build time (depending on system)

Quick Start

Option 1: Using Docker Compose (Recommended)

docker-compose build
docker-compose up

The website will be available at http://localhost

Option 2: Using Docker Directly

# Build the image
docker build -t hlsl-website .

# Run the container
docker run -p 80:80 hlsl-website

Build Details

The Dockerfile performs the following steps:

Committee Process

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

TC57 conducts its work through two main processes, defects and proposals.

The defect process handles specification errors, omissions or other gaps. This is also the primary process used for filling out specification language in the draft standard as we work toward our initial specification. Specification language introduced through the defect process must be consistent with at least one existing implementation of HLSL.

The proposal process handles changes in language behavior from existing implementations and introduction of new features.

Contributor Covenant 3.0 Code of Conduct

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Our Pledge

We pledge to make our community welcoming, safe, and equitable for all.

We are committed to fostering an environment that respects and promotes the dignity, rights, and contributions of all individuals, regardless of characteristics including race, ethnicity, caste, color, age, physical characteristics, neurodiversity, disability, sex or gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, language, philosophy or religion, national or social origin, socio-economic position, level of education, or other status. The same privileges of participation are extended to everyone who participates in good faith and in accordance with this Covenant.

Defect Process

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The TC57 defect process allows is streamlined process for correcting specification text or filling specification gaps. This is the primary process by which the specification is edited.

Changes introduced through the defect process must align with the behavior of an implementation, and should not seek to change behavior. Changes in behavior should follow the proposal process.

Reporting a Defect

TC57 tracks defects using GitHub Issues. New defects may be filed with the defect template on this repository. When filing a defect report please include all relevant context.

HLSL 202x

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

HLSL 202x is the working name for the first Ecma standard draft for HLSL.

The primary goal of HLSL 202x is to define a regular and consistent set of behaviors and semantics to enable implementations to align on a common language definition.

HLSL 202x should provide a high level of source compatibility with existing implementations but may seek to deviate to avoid obvious defects or implementation complexity. When deviating from existing implementations HLSL 202x will prefer alignment with C and C++ to leverage familiarity with users.

HLSL 202y

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

HLSL 202y is the working name for the feature release following HLSL 202x.

The primary goal of HLSL 202y is to bring new language features and requested improvements to HLSL. Two main areas of focus for HLSL 202y are modern C++ compatibility, and reduction of undefined and unspecified behavior.

While HLSL 202x seeks to have a high degree of source compatibility with existing implementations, HLSL 202y will allow more source breaking changes to enable moving the language forward.

HLSL Design Considerations

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

When designing and proposing a feature for HLSL there are some design considerations that should be taken into account.

Goal Statement

HLSL seeks to be a powerful portable data parallel programming language that enables high performance applications to target data parallel hardware across a wide variety of end user devices. HLSL is not limited to Microsoft hardware and software environments.

Core Priorities

The following set of core priorities guides the HLSL design process.

Proposal Process

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Despite the openness of this process there are two significant caveats that should be noted:

Final decisions about what proposals are included or excluded from HLSL are made by TC57, which is open to all Ecma members.
This process does not include HLSL API-specific extensions which are tracked separately by API vendors (see: Vendor Extension Processes).

Proposals from outside TC57 will be interpreted as requests, and may be considered or rejected based on priorities set by the Technical Committee. You should not create a pull request against this repository if you’re not committed to at least making a best effort to navigate the process as described below.

TC57 Meeting Agenda: 2026/03/17

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000


Agenda for the:	1st meeting of Ecma TC57
held in:	Zoom (virtual)
on:	17 Mar 2026


Chair:	Chris Bieneman (Microsoft)
Vice-chair:	Farzon Lotfi (Microsoft)
Attendees:
Secretary:	Aki Braun (Ecma International), Samina Husain (Ecma International) [WHICHEVER PRESENT]

1 Welcome, opening and meeting logistics

We have a Code of Conduct.
TC57 is part of Ecma and operates under Ecma’s Royalty-Free patent policy. All delegates from participating companies should have already agreed to the policy. The same is true for all invited experts. Anyone who is not a delegate or invited expert we ask to please not speak or utilize the in-meeting chat features.
Ecma’s IPR policies are all available online

2 Review of the agenda

3 Discussions

TC bootstrap schedule (@llvm-beanz)
- How often and what day/time should we meet?
- What meeting platform should we use (Ecma Zoom/MSFT Teams/Google Meet/???)
- We would like to record meetings just to ensure accurate minutes. Recordings will be deleted after the minutes are approved in the subsequent meeting. Is this agreed?
Procedure overview from the Ecma Secretariate
TC57 Status from the Ecma Secretariate
TC Process proposal (@llvm-beanz)
- An issue has been filed to collect feedback asynchronously.
Current specification status (@llvm-beanz)
- The current draft from Microsoft is available for review (PDF, HTML).
  - How would the committee like to review and integrate this work?
  - Proposal: Review and integrate by clause/sections in small chunks. An example PR has been posted integrating basic tooling, an introduction and the first two clauses.
- Microsoft has proposals in flight, which TC57 should evaluate. Active proposals Microsofft would like to contribute are listed in this issue.
  - A first PR proposing scoping for HLSL 202x and 202y has been posted for consideration by the TC.

4 Conclusions & Next Meeting

TC57 Meeting Agenda: 2026/03/31

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000


Agenda for the:	2nd meeting of Ecma TC57
held in:	Google Meet/Microsoft Teams/Zoom [PICK ONE] (virtual)
on:	31 Mar 2026


Chair:	Chris Bieneman (Microsoft)
Vice-chair:	Farzon Lotfi (Microsoft)
Attendees:
Secretary:	Aki Braun (Ecma International), Samina Husain (Ecma International) [WHICHEVER PRESENT]

1 Welcome, opening and meeting logistics

We have a Code of Conduct.
TC57 is part of Ecma and operates under Ecma’s Royalty-Free patent policy. All delegates from participating companies should have already agreed to the policy. The same is true for all invited experts. Anyone who is not a delegate or invited expert we ask to please not speak or utilize the in-meeting chat features.
Ecma’s IPR policies are all available online

2 Approval of the minutes of the [virtual] meeting of 17 Mar 2026

3 Review of the agenda

Align on meeting cadence and time - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/issues/7
AI Use Policy - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/9
- https://www.iso.org/files/live/sites/isoorg/files/developing_standards/who_develops_standards/docs/use%20of%20AI.pdf
information organisation - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/issues/10
GitHub ettiquite & logistics
- GitHub organization membership
- PR Approval Requirements?
- Branch restrictions?
Discuss feedback on the process: https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/issues/2
- Solicit Volunteers to serve as editors
- Agree on a cadence for reviewing process (suggestion: annually before the fall ExeCom meeting)
Approve outstanding PRs for Merge
- https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/4
- https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/5
New: Terms and Definitions Clause: https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/8

4 Review New Proposals

5 Discussions

6 Conclusions & Next Meeting

TC57 Meeting Agenda: 2026/04/14

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000


Agenda for the:	3rd meeting of Ecma TC57
held in:	Zoom (virtual)
on:	04 Apr 2026


Chair:	Chris Bieneman (Microsoft)
Vice-chair:	Farzon Lotfi (Microsoft)
Attendees:
Secretary:	Aki Braun (Ecma International), Samina Husain (Ecma International) [WHICHEVER PRESENT]

1 Welcome, opening and meeting logistics

We have a Code of Conduct.
TC57 is part of Ecma and operates under Ecma’s Royalty-Free patent policy. All delegates from participating companies should have already agreed to the policy. The same is true for all invited experts. Anyone who is not a delegate or invited expert we ask to please not speak or utilize the in-meeting chat features.
Ecma’s IPR policies are all available online

2 Approval of the minutes of the [virtual] meeting of 31 Mar 2026

3 Review of the agenda

We should select an group of volunteer editors to drive the defect process and spec formatting and tooling.
- @llvm-beanz volunteers himself
- Question: Any other volunteers?
GitHub pages website and PR build
- https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/13
- Question: Is the TC comfortable with editors iterating on formatting and infrastructure?
Review and merge:
- Terms and Definitions - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/8
- Conformance - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/11
Lexical Conventions Clause - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/16
- Request review aiming for merge on 4/28/2026
New proposal - conforming literals - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/15
- Request review to merge Under Consideration on 4/28/2026
New proposal - overload resolution - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/19
- Request review to merge Under Consideration on 4/28/2026
Upcoming call for consensus:
- Advance proposal 0001 to Refinement on 4/28/2026

TC57 Meeting Agenda: 2026/04/28

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000


Agenda for the:	4th meeting of Ecma TC57
held in:	Zoom (virtual)
on:	28 Apr 2026


Chair:	Chris Bieneman (Microsoft)
Vice-chair:	Farzon Lotfi (Microsoft)
Secretary:	Aki Braun (Ecma International), Samina Husain (Ecma International)

1 Welcome, opening and meeting logistics

TC57 meetings are recorded for the purpose of note-taking, recordings are deleted after minutes are prepared. Please see the video recording and legal disclaimer for more information.
We have a Code of Conduct.
TC57 is part of Ecma and operates under Ecma’s Royalty-Free patent policy. All delegates from participating companies should have already agreed to the policy. The same is true for all invited experts. Anyone who is not a delegate or invited expert we ask to please not speak or utilize the in-meeting chat features.
Ecma’s IPR policies are all available online

2 Approval of the minutes of the [virtual] meeting of 14 04 2026

3 Review of the agenda

4 Editorial Board Report

Tooling update:
- Website merged, pre-merge build added
- GitHub pages publishing configured: https://hlsl-tc57.github.io/tc57/
Small website fixes - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/20
GitHub team tc57-editors is created
Added a CODEOWNERS file - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/22
- Automatically request review from tc57-editors on spec changes
- Automatically request review from tc57-chairs for meetings agenda/minutes changes.

5 Review New Proposals

6 Discussions

Confirm editor volunteers
Conformance Clause - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/11
- Ongoing discussion in the PR around implementation extensions to namespaces and types.
Review and merge:
- Lexical Conventions Clause - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/16
- New proposal - conforming literals - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/15
- New proposal - overload resolution - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/19
Call for Consensus:
- Advance proposal 0001 to Refinement
Review for 2026-05-12:
- Basic Concepts Clause - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/23
- Conversions Clause - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/24
Review for merge 2026-05-12:
- New Proposal - HLSL 202x removals - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/25
- New Proposal - cbuffer contexts - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/26
- New Proposal - Restricted Unbound Arrays - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/27

7 Conclusions & Next Meeting

TC57 Meeting Agenda: 2026/05/12

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000


Agenda for the:	5th meeting of Ecma TC57
held in:	Zoom (virtual)
on:	12 May 2026


Chair:	Chris Bieneman (Microsoft)
Vice-chair:	Farzon Lotfi (Microsoft)
Secretary:	Aki Braun (Ecma International), Samina Husain (Ecma International)

1 Welcome, opening and meeting logistics

TC57 meetings are recorded for the purpose of note-taking, recordings are deleted after minutes are prepared. Please see the video recording and legal disclaimer for more information.
We have a Code of Conduct.
TC57 is part of Ecma and operates under Ecma’s Royalty-Free patent policy. All delegates from participating companies should have already agreed to the policy. The same is true for all invited experts. Anyone who is not a delegate or invited expert we ask to please not speak or utilize the in-meeting chat features.
Ecma’s IPR policies are all available online

2 Approval of the minutes of the [virtual] meeting of 14 Apr 2026 and 28 Apr 2026

14 April 2026 - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/29
28 April 2026 - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/30

3 Review of the agenda

4 Editorial Board Report

5 Review New Proposals

6 Discussions

Review and merge:
- Basic Concepts Clause - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/23
- Conversions Clause - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/24
- Normative References Language - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/28
New Proposals
- 202x removals - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/25
- cbuffer contexts - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/26
- Restricted Array Bounds - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/27
Call for Consensus:
- conforming literals to Refinement - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/15
- overload resolution to Refinement - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/19
Other discussions:
- HLSL standard headers? - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/issues/36
- Which proposals should we review for 202x and 202y? - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/issues/3
- What does the committee think of a blog/newsletter?
Call for review and merge on 26 May 2026
- Expressions Clause - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/35
- Declarations Clause - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/37

7 Conclusions & Next Meeting

TC57 Meeting Agenda: 2026/05/26

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000


Agenda for the:	6th meeting of Ecma TC57
held in:	Zoom (virtual)
on:	26 May 2026


Chair:	Chris Bieneman (Microsoft)
Vice-chair:	Farzon Lotfi (Microsoft)
Secretary:	Aki Braun (Ecma International), Samina Husain (Ecma International)

1 Welcome, opening and meeting logistics

TC57 meetings are recorded for the purpose of note-taking, recordings are deleted after minutes are prepared. Please see the video recording and legal disclaimer for more information.
We have a Code of Conduct.
TC57 is part of Ecma and operates under Ecma’s Royalty-Free patent policy. All delegates from participating companies should have already agreed to the policy. The same is true for all invited experts. Anyone who is not a delegate or invited expert we ask to please not speak or utilize the in-meeting chat features.
Ecma’s IPR policies are all available online

2 Approval of the minutes of the [virtual] meeting of 12 May 2026

3 Review of the agenda

4 Editorial Board Report

Merged PR to add grammar reference (https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/46)
Merged Docker configuration for website and spec builds (https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/40)

5 Review New Proposals

6 Discussions

Roadmap View - https://github.com/orgs/hlsl-tc57/projects/1/
Review and merge:
- Basic Concepts Clause - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/23
- Conversions Clause - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/24
- Expressions Clause - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/35
- Declarations Clause - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/37
Stage Advancements - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/50
- 202x removals to Refinement - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/blob/main/proposals/0004-202x-removals.md
- cbuffer contexts to Refinement - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/blob/main/proposals/0005-cbuffer-contexts.md
- restricted unbound arrays to Refinement - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/blob/main/proposals/0006-restricted-unbound-arrays.md
Literals Specification Language - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/52
- C23 Suffixes - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/issues/31
- asfloat16 overloads - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/issues/32
Proposal for blog/newsletter site - @llvm-beanz
For 2026-06-09:
- New Proposal - Memory and Execution Model - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/47
- New Proposal - Numeric Constants - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/48
- New Proposal - hlsl namespace - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/49
- New Proposal - Modern C++ - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/51

7 Conclusions & Next Meeting

TC57 Meeting Agenda: 2026/06/09

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000


Agenda for the:	7th meeting of Ecma TC57
held in:	Zoom (virtual)
on:	09 Jun 2026


Chair:	Chris Bieneman (Microsoft)
Vice-chair:	Farzon Lotfi (Microsoft)
Secretary:	Aki Braun (Ecma International), Samina Husain (Ecma International)

1 Welcome, opening and meeting logistics

TC57 meetings are recorded for the purpose of note-taking, recordings are deleted after minutes are prepared. Please see the video recording and legal disclaimer for more information.
We have a Code of Conduct.
TC57 is part of Ecma and operates under Ecma’s Royalty-Free patent policy. All delegates from participating companies should have already agreed to the policy. The same is true for all invited experts. Anyone who is not a delegate or invited expert we ask to please not speak or utilize the in-meeting chat features.
Ecma’s IPR policies are all available online

2 Approval of prior meeting minutes

2026-05-12 - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/61
2026-05-26 - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/66

3 Review of the agenda

4 Editorial Board Report

Website improvements (mobile view, grammar rendering)
Annex B - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/64

5 Review New Proposals

6 Discussions

Roadmap View - https://github.com/orgs/hlsl-tc57/projects/1/
Volunteers for liasons to Khronos & ISO
Consensus to merge
- New Proposal - Memory and Execution Model - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/47
- New Proposal - Numeric Constants - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/48
- New Proposal - hlsl namespace - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/49
- New Proposal - Modern C++ - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/51
Stage advancement
- Conforming Literals to Accepted
How do we want to write the “standard library clauses”?
- Should we use C++ syntax for inexpressible things? Consider https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/65
- Should our size type be signed or unsigned? https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/issues/67
Overload Resolution
- Conversions in initializer lists
- Question about conversion operators - https://hlsl.godbolt.org/z/d4zWo59vf - what should we allow?
For 2026-06-23
- New Proposal - Strict Initializer Lists - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/54
- New Proposal - unroll factor - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/68
- Basic.Scope - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/63
- Resources.TypedBuffer - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/65

7 Conclusions & Next Meeting

TC57 Meeting Agenda: 2026/06/23

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000


Agenda for the:	8th meeting of Ecma TC57
held in:	Zoom (virtual)
on:	23 Jun 2026


Chair:	Chris Bieneman (Microsoft)
Vice-chair:	Farzon Lotfi (Microsoft)
Secretary:	Aki Braun (Ecma International), Samina Husain (Ecma International)

1 Welcome, opening and meeting logistics

TC57 meetings are recorded for the purpose of note-taking, recordings are deleted after minutes are prepared. Please see the video recording and legal disclaimer for more information.
We have a Code of Conduct.
TC57 is part of Ecma and operates under Ecma’s Royalty-Free patent policy. All delegates from participating companies should have already agreed to the policy. The same is true for all invited experts. Anyone who is not a delegate or invited expert we ask to please not speak or utilize the in-meeting chat features.
Ecma’s IPR policies are all available online

2 Approval of prior meeting minutes

3 Review of the agenda

4 Editorial Board Report

5 Review New Proposals

6 Discussions

Roadmap View - https://github.com/orgs/hlsl-tc57/projects/1/
Draft Status - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/issues/75
Proposal updates
- New Proposal - Strict Initializer Lists - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/54
- New Proposal - unroll factor - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/68
Normative language changes
- Basic.Scope - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/63
- Resources.TypedBuffer - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/65
  - How do we want to write the “standard library clauses”?
    - Should we use C++ syntax for inexpressible things? Consider https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/65
    - Is it a goal to make HLSL able to express its own standard library? - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/issues/116
    - Should our size type be signed or unsigned? https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/issues/67
Overload Resolution - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/62
- Conversions in initializer lists
- Question about conversion operators - https://hlsl.godbolt.org/z/d4zWo59vf - what should we allow?
For 2026-07-07
- New Proposal - Named casts - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/72
- New Proposal - groupshared arguments - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/73
- New Proposal - const non-static member functions - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/74
- New Proposal - non-member operator overloading - https://github.com/hlsl-tc57/tc57/pull/115

7 Conclusions & Next Meeting

Next meeting on 2026-07-07.

TC57 Meeting Agenda: 2026/07/07

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000


Agenda for the:	9th meeting of Ecma TC57
held in:	Zoom (virtual)
on:	07 Jul 2026


Chair:	Chris Bieneman (Microsoft)
Vice-chair:	Farzon Lotfi (Microsoft)
Secretary:	Aki Braun (Ecma International), Samina Husain (Ecma International)

1 Welcome, opening and meeting logistics

TC57 meetings are recorded for the purpose of note-taking, recordings are deleted after minutes are prepared. Please see the video recording and legal disclaimer for more information.
We have a Code of Conduct.
TC57 is part of Ecma and operates under Ecma’s Royalty-Free patent policy. All delegates from participating companies should have already agreed to the policy. The same is true for all invited experts. Anyone who is not a delegate or invited expert we ask to please not speak or utilize the in-meeting chat features.
Ecma’s IPR policies are all available online.

2 Approval of prior meeting minutes

3 Review of the agenda

4 Editorial Board Report

5 Review New Proposals

6 Discussions

Roadmap View
Chair Elections
New Proposals:
- New Proposal - Named casts
- New Proposal - groupshared arguments
- New Proposal - const non-static member functions
- New Proposal - non-member operator overloading
Normative language changes (Checking for consensus only)
- Resources.TypedBuffer
- Revised phrasing on code blocks
For 2026-07-21
- Normative Change [Lex.Identifier]
- Normative Change [Lex.Keywords]
- Normative Change [Lex.Operators]
- New Proposals:
  - New Proposal - Ternary operator behavior
  - New Proposal - User-defined conversions
- Stage Advancements
  - 0002 - Conforming Literals to Completed
  - 0008 - Numeric Constants to Refinement
  - 0009 - hlsl namespace to Refinement
  - 0012 - Loop Unroll Factor to Refinement
Draft Status
- Monthly report
Committee Policy Questions from @pow2clk
- AI Policy Clarifications
- Review Policy
- What is our approach to breaking changes?
- How can we encourage multiple perspectives on HLSL proposals?
- How do we decide what gets included in the HLSL spec at this point?
How does the committee want to handle removals? - 202x Removals
- We have a growing list of removals, this is unlikely to be complete for a while. I’d like to avoid introducing specification language for things we want to remove, so how do we decide on this and ratify it?

7 Conclusions & Next Meeting

Next meeting on 2026-07-21.

TC57 Meeting Agenda: 2026/07/21

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000


Agenda for the:	10th meeting of Ecma TC57
held in:	Zoom (virtual)
on:	21 Jul 2026


Chair:	Chris Bieneman (Microsoft)
Vice-chair:	Farzon Lotfi (Microsoft)
Secretary:	Aki Braun (Ecma International), Samina Husain (Ecma International)

1 Welcome, opening and meeting logistics

TC57 meetings are recorded for the purpose of note-taking, recordings are deleted after minutes are prepared. Please see the video recording and legal disclaimer for more information.
We have a Code of Conduct.
TC57 is part of Ecma and operates under Ecma’s Royalty-Free patent policy. All delegates from participating companies should have already agreed to the policy. The same is true for all invited experts. Anyone who is not a delegate or invited expert we ask to please not speak or utilize the in-meeting chat features.
Ecma’s IPR policies are all available online.

2 Approval of prior meeting minutes

3 Review of the agenda

4 Editorial Board Report

5 Review New Proposals

6 Discussions

Roadmap View
Draft Status
Chair Elections
Editorial Meetings
Guide for PR reviewers
Normative language changes (Checking for consensus only)
- Resources.TypedBuffer
  - For committee attention: removal of “non-normative” code blocks
- [Lex.Identifier]
- [Lex.Keywords]
- [Lex.Operators]
New Proposals:
- New Proposal - Ternary operator behavior
- New Proposal - User-defined conversions
Stage Advancements
- 0002 - Conforming Literals to Completed
- 0008 - Numeric Constants to Refinement
- 0009 - hlsl namespace to Refinement
- 0012 - Loop Unroll Factor to Refinement
For 2026-08-04
- Normative Language changes [Basic.Lookup]
- Stage advancements
  - named casts
  - groupshared arguments
  - const member functions
  - non-member operator overloading
  - Can we consider: User-defined conversions
Committee Policy Questions from @pow2clk
- How do we decide what gets included in the HLSL spec at this point?
How does the committee want to handle removals? - 202x Removals
- We have a growing list of removals, this is unlikely to be complete for a while. I’d like to avoid introducing specification language for things we want to remove, so how do we decide on this and ratify it?
Are we comfortable with sparse language for behavior changes on top of unwritten language?
- Context: const member functions
Const correctness

7 Conclusions & Next Meeting

Next meeting on 2026-08-04.

TC57 Meeting Minutes: 2026/03/17

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000


Minutes of the:	1st meeting of Ecma TC57
held in:	Zoom (virtual)
on:	17 March 2026


Chairs:	Chris Bieneman, Chair (Microsoft), Farzon Lotfi, Vice-chair (Microsoft)
Attendees:	Chris Bieneman (Microsoft), Farzon Lotfi (Microsoft), Nathan Gauër (Google), Karen Dintino (AMD), Mark Herdeg (AMD), Michael Bedy (AMD), Daniel Brown (AMD), Alex Sepkowski (Microsoft), Deric Cheung (Microsoft), Ashley Coleman (Microsoft), Timothy Corringham (AMD), Joshua Batista (Microsoft), Alexander Johnston (AMD), Justin Bogner (Microsoft), Tex Riddell (Microsoft), Finn Plumber (Microsoft), Kaitlin Peng (Microsoft), Helena Kotas (Microsoft), Damyan Pepper (Microsoft), Sarah Spall (Microsoft), Jesse Barker (Invited Expert), Aki Rose Braun (Ecma International), Samina Husain (Ecma International)
Secretary:	Samina Husain (Ecma International), Aki Braun (Ecma International)

1 Welcome, opening and meeting logistics

Samina Husain briefly welcomed all delegates and invited experts to the first meeting of TC57: High Level Shader Language. From there, chair Chris Bieneman began the teleconference and invited all attendees to express their opinions on process to make sure the committee functioned for all participants. All attendees were informed that the meeting was recorded and transcribed for the purpose of note-taking, and directed to review the video recording and legal disclaimer if they were not familiar.

TC57 Meeting Minutes: 2026/03/31

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000


Minutes of the:	2nd meeting of Ecma TC57
held in:	Teleconference
on:	31 March 2026


Chairs:	Chris Bieneman, Chair (Microsoft), Farzon Lotfi, Vice-chair (Microsoft)
Attendees:	Chris Bieneman (Microsoft), Damyan Pepper (Microsoft), Nathan Gauër (Google), Justin Bogner (Microsoft), Mark Herdeg (AMD), Steven Perron (Google), Deric Cheung (Microsoft), Farzon Lotfi (Microsoft), Finn Plummer (Microsoft), Kaitlin Peng (Microsoft), Tex Riddell (Microsoft), Jesse Barker (Invited Expert), Aki Rose Braun (Ecma International)
Secretary:	Samina Husain (Ecma International), Aki Braun (Ecma International)

1 Welcome, opening and meeting logistics

Committee chair Chris Bieneman began the teleconference. This meeting was not recorded, though participants were informed that meetings typically are recorded for the purposes of preparing minutes and were directed to review the video recording and legal disclaimer if they were not familiar.

TC57 Meeting Minutes: 2026/04/14

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000


Minutes of the:	3rd meeting of Ecma TC57
held in:	Teleconference
on:	14 April 2026


Chairs:	Farzon Lotfi (Microsoft)
Attendees:	Farzon Lotfi (Microsoft), Steven Perron (Google), Gregory Roth (Nvidia), Nathan Gauër (Google), Alexander Johnston (AMD), Daniel Brown (AMD), Deric Cheung (Microsoft), Mark Herdeg (AMD), Joshua Batista (Microsoft), Justin Bogner (Microsoft), Helena Kotas (Microsoft), Damyan Pepper (Microsoft), Timothy Corringham (AMD), Tex Riddell (Microsoft), Finn Plummer (Microsoft), Jesse Barker (Invited Expert),
Secretary:	Aki Rose Braun (Ecma International)

1 Welcome, opening and meeting logistics

Farzon Lotfi, vice-chair of TC57, began the teleconference and welcomed attendees. Attendees were reminded of the committee’s code of conduct, Ecma’s IPR policy, and TC57’s royalty-free patent policy extension. All attendees were informed that the meeting was recorded and transcribed by Zoom for the purpose of note-taking, and directed to review the video recording and legal disclaimer if they were not familiar.

TC57 Meeting Minutes: 2026/04/28

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000


Minutes of the:	4th meeting of Ecma TC57
held in:	Zoom (virtual)
on:	28 April 2026


Chair:	Chris Bieneman (Microsoft)
Vice-chair:	Farzon Lotfi (Microsoft)
Attendees:	Chris Bieneman (Microsoft), Justin Bogner (Microsoft), Gregory Roth (Nvidia), Nathan Gauër (Google), Steven Perron (Google), Kaitlin Peng (Microsoft), Helena Kotas (Microsoft), Ashley Coleman (Microsoft), Damyan Pepper (Microsoft), Jesse Barker (Invited Expert)
Secretary:	Aki Braun (Ecma International)

1 Welcome, opening and meeting logistics

TC57 Officers

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Provisional Management

The Executive Committee nominated a provisional chair and vice chair at the October 2025 meeting. According to Ecma’s rules these individuals will serve a term of no less than 6 months.

Provisional Chair: Chris Bieneman (@llvm-beanz) Provisional Vice-Chair: Farzon Lotfi (@farzonl)

Chair Group

At the first meeting of the Technical Committee after the initial period new chair(s) will be elected by TC57 via consensus. Since chairs must be elected on a specified schedule, a vote of Ecma members will be used if consensus is not reached.