It's like a .so file for a web browser, except that instead of being natively compiled, it is portable and gives native-like performance. It's like NaCL (Google Chrome), but cross browser. It's not a plug-in model where extensions need to be prepared ahead of time as pre-built extensions (one for Mac, one for Windows, etc).
________________________________________ From: Friam <[email protected]> on behalf of Russell Standish <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, June 18, 2015 4:05 PM To: Complexity Coffee Group Subject: Re: [FRIAM] WebAssembly/design What's the idea - to embed C++ objects into the JS VM? On Thu, Jun 18, 2015 at 11:05:49AM -0600, Owen Densmore wrote: > As was announced yesterday, WebAssembly language (replacing asm.js) is > seriously real. Here's a FAQ > > https://github.com/WebAssembly/design/blob/master/FAQ.md#faq > > And Brendan Eich: > https://brendaneich.com/2015/06/from-asm-js-to-webassembly/ > > There is still hope for JS itself, however. JS can import wasm: > > Is WebAssembly only for C/C++ programmers? > > As explained in the high-level goals > <https://github.com/WebAssembly/design/blob/master/HighLevelGoals.md>, to > achieve a Minimum Viable Product, the initial focus is on C/C++ > <https://github.com/WebAssembly/design/blob/master/CAndC++.md>. > However, byintegrating > with JS at the ES6 Module interface > <https://github.com/WebAssembly/design/blob/master/MVP.md#modules>, web > developers don't need to write C++ to take advantage of libraries that > others have written; reusing a modular C++ library can be as simple as using > a module from JS <http://jsmodules.io/>. > > Beyond the MVP, another high-level goal > <https://github.com/WebAssembly/design/blob/master/HighLevelGoals.md> is to > improve support for languages other than C/C++. This includes allowing > WebAssembly code to allocate and access garbage-collected (JS, DOM, Web > API) objects > <https://github.com/WebAssembly/design/blob/master/FutureFeatures.md#gcdom-integration>. > Even before GC support is added to WebAssembly, it is possible to compile a > language's VM to WebAssembly (assuming it's written in portable C/C++) and > this has already been demonstrated (1 <http://ruby.dj/>, 2 > <https://kripken.github.io/lua.vm.js/lua.vm.js.html>, 3 > <https://syntensity.blogspot.com/2010/12/python-demo.html>). However, > "compile the VM" strategies increase the size of distributed code, lose > browser devtools integration, can have cross-language cycle-collection > problems and miss optimizations that require integration with the browser. > > My guess is that Java or GWT (Google Web Toolkit) will eventually be able > compile to wasm. So you're right again, Frank! > > > -- Owen > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Prof Russell Standish Phone 0425 253119 (mobile) Principal, High Performance Coders Visiting Professor of Mathematics [email protected] University of New South Wales http://www.hpcoders.com.au ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
