v0.4.0

Release v0.4.0 🚀

This release delivers major performance optimizations across startup latency, terminal throughput, and GPU rendering, while also fixing visual issues and introducing a comprehensive benchmarking suite for competitive performance analysis.

⚡ Performance & I/O Improvements

Increased PTY Buffer Size

• Increased PTY read buffer size from 8KB to 64KB in terminal_state.rs.
• Significantly reduces system calls and context switching during heavy terminal output workloads.
• Improves throughput and responsiveness when processing large volumes of text.

Lazy Font Loading

• Refactored the font atlas in atlas.rs to pre-render only essential ASCII characters and common punctuation at startup:

  abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789.- :
  

• Additional glyphs are now rasterized on demand.

• Reduced window startup time by approximately 31%, from ~1.67s to ~1.15s.

GPU ShaderModule Caching

• Implemented a static shader cache using std::sync::OnceLock in pipeline.rs.
• WGSL shaders are compiled only once and reused across the application.
• Eliminates redundant shader compilation when resizing atlases or creating new windows.

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🐛 Bug Fixes

Fixed Invisible Text in "About Fasty"

• Resolved a texture binding issue in pipeline.rs.
• The UI was incorrectly using the main text bind_group instead of the dedicated ui_bind_group.
• Version information and application description now render correctly.

Configuration-Aware Font Integration

• Updated the About window to dynamically use the font family selected in user settings.
• Removed reliance on statically loaded fonts that may not exist on the host system.
• Ensures consistent typography across the entire application.

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📊 Benchmarking & Testing

End-to-End Benchmark Suite

• Added benchmark_e2e.py for automated performance testing.

• Supports:

  • Building Fasty automatically.
  • Generating large text and ANSI color payloads.
  • Measuring execution latency.
  • Comparing performance against Ghostty and Konsole.

VTE Parser Micro-Benchmarks

• Added Criterion-based benchmarks in benches/parser_bench.rs.
• Provides detailed performance validation for the terminal parser.
• Enables regression detection and optimization tracking over time.

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Summary

• ⚡ Up to 31% faster startup times through lazy font loading.
• 📈 Improved terminal throughput with a 64KB PTY buffer.
• 🎮 Reduced GPU overhead through shader caching.
• 🐛 Fixed rendering issues in the About window.
• 🔤 Proper integration with user-selected fonts.
• 📊 Added comprehensive benchmarking infrastructure against competing terminals.