Performance

[milankl]

This is currently only within x2 compared to Float16

julia> using BenchmarkTools, Float8s

julia> B1 = Float16.(rand(300,300));

julia> B2 = Float8.(rand(300,300));

julia> @btime Float32.($B1);
  281.829 μs (2 allocations: 351.64 KiB)

julia> @btime Float32.($B2);
  512.166 μs (2 allocations: 351.64 KiB)

julia> A = rand(Float32,300,300);

julia> @btime Float8.($A);
  981.933 μs (2 allocations: 88.02 KiB)

julia> @btime Float16.($A);
  673.638 μs (2 allocations: 175.89 KiB)

Maybe it helps to remove some of the if-clauses baked into function calls via multiple-dispatch, that are used to have type-flexibility for Float8 / Float8_4.

[JeffreySarnoff]

I'd separate them, if only for simplicity.