Yet another TEDIOUS BATTLE: Python vs. C++/C stack.
This project gained popularity due to the HIGH DEMAND for running large models with 1B+ parameters, like `llama`. Python dominates the interface and training ecosystem, but prior to llama.cpp, non-ML professionals showed little interest in a fast C++ interface library. While existing solutions like tensorflow-serving [1] in C++ were sufficiently fast with GPU support, llama.cpp took the initiative to optimize for CPU and trim unnecessary code, essentially code-golfing and sacrificing some algorithm correctness for improved performance, which isn't favored by "ML research".
NOTE: In my opinion, a true pioneer was DarkNet, which implemented the YOLO model series and significantly outperformed others [2]. Same trick basically like llama.cpp
This project gained popularity due to the HIGH DEMAND for running large models with 1B+ parameters, like `llama`. Python dominates the interface and training ecosystem, but prior to llama.cpp, non-ML professionals showed little interest in a fast C++ interface library. While existing solutions like tensorflow-serving [1] in C++ were sufficiently fast with GPU support, llama.cpp took the initiative to optimize for CPU and trim unnecessary code, essentially code-golfing and sacrificing some algorithm correctness for improved performance, which isn't favored by "ML research".
NOTE: In my opinion, a true pioneer was DarkNet, which implemented the YOLO model series and significantly outperformed others [2]. Same trick basically like llama.cpp
[1] https://github.com/tensorflow/serving [2] https://github.com/pjreddie/darknet