"Is WebAssembly the killer of JavaScript"
summary
Argues that WebAssembly is a compilation target, not a JavaScript killer: C/C++ via Emscripten or compilers produce either asm.js or a WebAssembly binary, which the browser parses far faster. Shows numbers: an asm.js Unity build ~19 MB vs a WebAssembly build ~6 MB (gzipped to ~3 MB), and asm.js with Firefox’s AOT gets within ~1.2x of native speed. Demonstrates a working Unity/game port, explains sandboxed execution, polyfill availability, and that JS and Wasm coexist as interoperable modules.
AI-written summary · about
chapters (18)
- 0:00Intro
- 1:46Birth of JavaScript
- 2:39Microsoft hits back
- 3:32Becoming a standard
- 4:34The jQuery era
- 5:17JavaScript goes server-side
- 5:48JavaScript conquers the world
- 6:03Module counts
- 9:04We are compiling to JavaScript
- 12:31Mozilla and Epic ported Unreal Engine 3 to the Web in 4 days
- 17:18asm.js examples
- 17:54Performance
- 21:10Collaborative effort
- 23:04Abstract syntax tree
- 23:42Text format vs. Binary encoding
- 26:08A possible syntax module
- 30:48WebAssembly and JavaScript
- 31:15The future of WebAssembly
