WebAssembly And The Future of JavaScript
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JavaScript brought interactivity to the web more than 20 years ago, and despite numerous challengers, it is still the only language supported by browser. However, as those 20 years have passed we've moved from adding a little interactivity to largely static sites, to creating complex JavaScript-heavy single page applications. Throughout this journey, the way we use JavaScript itself has also changed. Gone are the days of writing simple code snippets that are run directly in the browser. Nowadays you transpile, minify, tree-shake and more, treating the JavaScript virtual machine as a compilation target.
The problem is, JavaScript isn't a very good compilation target, because it simply wasn't designed to be one. Born out of asm.js, a somewhat crazy concept dreamt up by Mozilla, WebAssembly was designed from the ground-up as an efficient compilation target for the web. It promises smaller payloads, rapid parsing and validation and consistent performance... and it's ready to use, right now! During this talk you will learn about what's wrong with the way you are using JavaScript today and why you need WebAssembly. It will delve into the internals, giving a quick tour of the WebAssembly instruction set, memory and security model, before moving on to the more practical aspects of using it with Rust, C++ and JavaScript. Finally you'll do some crystal-ball gazing and see what the future of this rapidly evolving technology might hold.
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Thanks to our sponsors
WebAssembly And The Future of JavaScript
Colin Eberhardt
Colin's business card says 'Technology Director' and he works at a UK-based software consultancy, however, he thinks of himself as a technology enthusiast. Colin has been working in software for many years, and has never stopped exploring, learning and creating. He writes a lot, speak a lot and code a lot. He likes telling stories, he likes his presentations to have a narrative. He likes people to feel educated, but more than anything else, he wants them to just enjoy it and have fun.
Please log in to watch this conference skillscast.
JavaScript brought interactivity to the web more than 20 years ago, and despite numerous challengers, it is still the only language supported by browser. However, as those 20 years have passed we've moved from adding a little interactivity to largely static sites, to creating complex JavaScript-heavy single page applications. Throughout this journey, the way we use JavaScript itself has also changed. Gone are the days of writing simple code snippets that are run directly in the browser. Nowadays you transpile, minify, tree-shake and more, treating the JavaScript virtual machine as a compilation target.
The problem is, JavaScript isn't a very good compilation target, because it simply wasn't designed to be one. Born out of asm.js, a somewhat crazy concept dreamt up by Mozilla, WebAssembly was designed from the ground-up as an efficient compilation target for the web. It promises smaller payloads, rapid parsing and validation and consistent performance... and it's ready to use, right now! During this talk you will learn about what's wrong with the way you are using JavaScript today and why you need WebAssembly. It will delve into the internals, giving a quick tour of the WebAssembly instruction set, memory and security model, before moving on to the more practical aspects of using it with Rust, C++ and JavaScript. Finally you'll do some crystal-ball gazing and see what the future of this rapidly evolving technology might hold.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE:
- From monoliths to components with D3 (SkillsCast recorded in September 2015)
- Elasticsearch for Developers with Itamar Syn-Hershko (in London on 16th - 18th December 2019)
- µCon London 2020 - The Conference on Microservices, DDD & Software Architecture (in London on 27th - 29th May 2020)
- Converting Architectural Requirements into Code using CloudFormation (in London on 18th September 2019)
- React & Redux Workshop with Damjan Vujnovic (in London on 16th - 18th September 2019)
- Damjan Vujnovic's Advanced JavaScript Workshop (in London on 4th - 6th November 2019)
- ProgNET London 2019 (in London on 11th - 13th September 2019)
- Haskell eXchange 2019 (in London on 10th - 11th October 2019)
- WebGL August: Fragment Shaders (in London on 27th August 2019)
- Front Endgineers September Meetup (in London on 5th September 2019)
- Powering Code Reuse with Render Props, Hooks and Context in React (SkillsCast recorded in August 2019)
- react2019 { css-in-js: overflow } (SkillsCast recorded in August 2019)
Thanks to our sponsors
WebAssembly And The Future of JavaScript
Colin Eberhardt
Colin's business card says 'Technology Director' and he works at a UK-based software consultancy, however, he thinks of himself as a technology enthusiast. Colin has been working in software for many years, and has never stopped exploring, learning and creating. He writes a lot, speak a lot and code a lot. He likes telling stories, he likes his presentations to have a narrative. He likes people to feel educated, but more than anything else, he wants them to just enjoy it and have fun.