From Pixels to Tensors, Part 1: 2D Rendering Baselines

I started this series because I wanted to understand how ML compiler stacks built on MLIR actually work — not just the API surface, but why they are shaped the way they are. The trail goes back to GPU architecture, to the 3D pipeline, to the fixed-function hardware that preceded it. This is that backward journey. It starts at 2D rendering — font rasterization, geometry primitives, the NES PPU —…