1. A method of generating a list of state elements to be context switched within a graphics processing unit, comprising: creating a default list of state elements within the graphics processing unit that are to be context switched by default; creating an exclusion list of state elements that are not to be context switched, wherein the exclusion list is independent of any application that is executed by the graphics processing unit; extracting a list of potential context switched state elements from the default list; removing all of the state elements listed in the exclusion list from the list of potential context switched state elements to create the list of state elements to be context switched; and translating the list of elements to be context switched into a format for input to a compiler that is configured to generate compiled code for execution by the graphics processing unit.