WebAssembly Today ✍️ #2
WebAssembly bytecode performance is very close to native code 🚀
We have always known that WebAssembly is safe AND fast. But how fast? @whitequark ported nextpnr to WebAssembly and found WebAssembly performance is within statistical noise from the equivalent native binary.
Node.js v14 brings WebAssembly improvements 👩🏻💻
The recently released Node.js v14 is a big step toward WebAssembly on the server side. Its underlying V8 engine now supports the WASI extension. Related to this, V8 recently made improvements to support up to 4GB in memory for WebAssembly apps.
Mozilla Incubator supports WebAssembly startups 🦄
Mozilla announces a summer startup incubator and builders lab program. One of its 7 categories is WebAssembly! Apply to receive from $10k to $75k USD for this summer!
In the Mozilla Spring Open Labs program, the Second State team announced a privacy-first data sharing framework built on Rust and WebAssembly.
SwiftWasm: compile Swift to WebAssembly 🍎
A key strength of WebAssembly is its support for multiple programming languages. You can compile Swift to WebAssembly now! Learn more about at their website.
Compile COBOL into WebAssembly 👨🦳
COBOL is one of the first computer programming languages in human history, and it is in the news again. The US unemployment system was written 50 years ago in COBOL and cannot handle the massive unemployment spike caused by COVID-19. Never learnt COBOL because it is too old? You can use it with WebAssembly now.
Microsoft Blazor brings C# to WebAssembly 😊
The Blazor framework allows ASP.NET developers to build client-side web apps using C# instead of JavaScript. It now supports WebAssembly. Basically, it can compile C# source code into WebAssembly to be executed in the browser.
Play MUD in WebAssembly, on the server! 😎
Kevin Hoffman builds a server-side WebAssembly framework for creating MUD games. The idea is that players can upload their own game code that runs safely inside WebAssembly runtimes.
Introducing Gantry 🤗
Gantry is a registry for server-side WebAssembly modules for the waSCC framework used in the above MUD game example.
Rusty news
Microsoft explains why it loves Rust ❤️
On the Rust front, there are a lot of love. Ryan Levick explains how Rust makes software safe, and why Microsoft launched project Verona to learn from Rust.
Things I hate about Rust 🦀
While Microsoft loves Rust, developer yossarian says that there are still things he hates about Rust. It sounds like a love hate relationship.
8 things I learned from 4000 Rust developers 🦀
Michael Yuan write an article on things he learned by looking at the findings from the Rust developer survey.
Learn to program in Rust with VS Codespaces online IDE 🎉
Get started with Rust programming without installing any software on your computer!
Rusty Chat: A Real-time Chat App in Rust and React 📮
A new server-side Rust app is here! This time it is for real-time communication. The backend is written in Rust with a React UI frontend. Try it yourself from GitHub.
Rocket will soon compile on stable Rust 🚀
Rocket is a very popular web framework for Rust. However, for the past 4 years (!), it can only be compiled with nightly (unstable) Rust compiler releases. It seems that Rocket will finally be available on stable Rust soon! Also, according to a comment on Reddit, the next version of Rocket will support async.
Refinery, a SQL migration toolkit for Rust, released version 0.3 🔢
Refinery makes it easy to migrate data between different SQL databases. It is yet another example of how Rust useful for server-side developers.
Cargo-nono helps you use no_std crates 👻
Cargo-nono help check your crate for no_std compatibility. Blockchain developers often need to use Rust and WebAssembly in no_std host environments. But it is difficult to find out if a crate is compatible with no_std. Cargo_nono tries to aid developers navigating this current minefield. It is very useful given how popular Rust and WebAssembly are in the blockchain world. Learn more about it at its GitHub repo.
Serverless happenings
What do you think of this typical serverless architecture 🤔
Paul Biggartweeted this architecture diagram about serverless applications. It looks just as complex as the “multi-tier JEE” applications from the past — because enterprise problems are inherently complex. But serverless does it make it a lot easier to get started and experiment with! What do you think?
SlashData released Cloud-native developer report ☁️
Key findings:
4.7 million Cloud-Native developers exist around the globe.
1.7 million developers are using Kubernetes.
3.3 million developers are using serverless architectures and cloud functions.
Kubernetes users are more likely to influence buying decisions.
51% of serverless users are using AWS Lambda.
68% of Cloud-Native developers are using AWS as a cloud hosting provider.
Enjoyed reading this newsletter? Please subscribe to make sure that you do not miss a future issue. ❤️
This newsletter is a collaborative effort. Don’t forget to leave comments! Suggest topics or projects you would like to see we cover next week. Thanks!