{"id":3171,"date":"2015-06-24T10:15:57","date_gmt":"2015-06-24T08:15:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usersnap.com\/?p=3171"},"modified":"2025-08-28T14:08:52","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T12:08:52","slug":"what-is-webassembly-for-web-developer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usersnap.com\/blog\/what-is-webassembly-for-web-developer\/","title":{"rendered":"What is WebAssembly and why it affects every web developer!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Have you heard the news about WebAssembly? Google, Microsoft, Mozilla and others are teaming up for launching a new binary format for the web.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We at Usersnap took a closer look on what WebAssembly is and why it\u2019s appearance and future development should matter to everyone! Even if you\u2019re not a developer!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It will change the web. At least to some extent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n<div class=\"acf-cta\" style=\"background-image: url(https:\/\/usersnap.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Group-1000004194.svg); width: 100%;\"><h2>Try Usersnap for Product Development<\/h2><a href=\"https:\/\/usersnap.com\/signup\" class=\"cta-button\">Try Usersnap Now<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">JavaScript &#8211; the web\u2019s language.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The web is based on many standards which is absolutely fine. And it makes the life of builders and creators easier. Imagine there wouldn\u2019t be any rule, language, framework, concept on which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hostinger.co.uk\/web-hosting\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">we build websites<\/a> and applications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The web standard which holds much things together has a well-known name. It\u2019s called JavaScript.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>JavaScript is basically the standard programming language of web platforms. And since more and more software becomes web software, JavaScript gains an immense drive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There has been some attempts over the years to work around the limitations of JavaScript, which it definitely has.&nbsp;JavaScript files are plain text files. These files are downloaded from the server and then parsed and compiled by the JavaScript engine in the browser.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"272\" src=\"https:\/\/usersnap.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/webassembly-javascript-engine.png\" alt=\"What is WebAssembly?\" class=\"wp-image-3174\" title=\"webassembly\" srcset=\"https:\/\/usersnap.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/webassembly-javascript-engine.png 600w, https:\/\/usersnap.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/webassembly-javascript-engine-300x136.png 300w, https:\/\/usersnap.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/webassembly-javascript-engine-140x63.png 140w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Browsers currently use JavaScript to interpret code and enable functionalities, like dynamic content. Performance improvements with JavaScript frameworks have been made. However bytecode-based systems are still faster and better performing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">So, what the heck is WebAssembly?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>WebAssembly is kind of a new byte code. WebAssembly &#8211; or short: \u201cwasm\u201d &#8211; is a new binary syntax for low-level safe code. It defines a \u201cportable, size- and load-time-efficient format and execution model\u201d designed to serve as a compilation target for the web.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This definitely means performance improvements in the browser. And it gives us access to a set of low-level building blocks, such as a range of types and operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Don\u2019t get me wrong. It\u2019s not announced and designed as an alternative to JavaScript.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><i>And as Bjarne Stroustup stated:<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote twitter-tweet is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>JS will survive. &#8220;There are only two kinds of languages: the ones people complain about and the ones nobody uses.&#8221; Bjarne Stroustrup <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/js?src=hash\">#js<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2014 Eric Elliott (@_ericelliott) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/_ericelliott\/status\/611710191688486912\">June 19, 2015<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p><script src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Or as <a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/javascript-scene\/what-is-webassembly-the-dawn-of-a-new-era-61256ec5a8f6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Eric Elliott stated<\/a>:\u201d It may be useful not to think of WebAssembly as a language at all. It\u2019s more like a machine\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">From asm.js to WebAssembly?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/asmjs.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">asm.js<\/a> is great for compiling code written&nbsp;in &#8211; for example &#8211; C or C++. asm.js is a subset of JavaScript, which can be used as a low-level, efficient target language for compilers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The idea of asm.js is to code JavaScript in such a way that engines produce machine code which is super efficient. If you compile C++ to asm.js you can reach massive speed improvements in web browsers.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"650\" height=\"122\" src=\"https:\/\/usersnap.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/webassembly-asm-javascript.png\" alt=\"What is webassembly asm.js \" class=\"wp-image-3175\" srcset=\"https:\/\/usersnap.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/webassembly-asm-javascript.png 650w, https:\/\/usersnap.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/webassembly-asm-javascript-300x56.png 300w, https:\/\/usersnap.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/webassembly-asm-javascript-140x26.png 140w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p><br>It has some advantages over asm.js which involve mainly performance issues. According to the FAQ: \u201cOn mobile, large compiled codes can easily take 20-40s just to parse [&#8230;] First experiments show that WebAssembly can be loaded more than 20 times faster&nbsp;because the work for parsing is minimal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What\u2019s so great about this at all?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>So you\u2019re probably asking? Why is it all over the news? WebAssembly is definitely an improvement to JavaScript. But not only that. It\u2019s a great browser improvement too.<br>Browsers will understand binary format. So you\u2019ll be able to compile binary bundles that compress smaller than a JavaScript text.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This could bring \u201capp-like performance\u201d to all web content and web apps. Sounds great, huh? \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Instead of having to parse the full code, which can often take quite a while, it can be decoded significantly faster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Make sure to check out this talk by Brendan Eich:<br><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/aZqhRICne_M?rel=0\" width=\"550\" height=\"400\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"acf-cta\" style=\"background-image: url(https:\/\/usersnap.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Group-1000004194.svg); width: 100%;\"><h2>Try Usersnap for Product Development<\/h2><a href=\"https:\/\/usersnap.com\/signup\" class=\"cta-button\">Try Usersnap Now<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Who\u2019s already on it?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Google, Microsoft, and Mozilla are just a few names. Leading engineers have launched a WebAssembly Community Group with its mission to \u201cpromote early-stage cross-browser collaboration on new, portable [\u2026] format suitable for compilation on the web.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, it must be stated that work \u201chas just begun\u201d. So it\u2019s pretty early-stage and it will definitely take some time until WebAssembly will become something like a well-known web standard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why it&nbsp;affects every web developer?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Because it will enable developers to do all kind of new stuff which wouldn\u2019t have been possible or so easy with JavaScript.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.w3.org\/community\/webassembly\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">W3C WebAssembly Community group<\/a> named quite a few use cases for using WebAssembly and how it will make&nbsp;life easier for web developers. Here are just a few:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Better execution of programming languages that are cross-compiled to the web<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>for developer tooling inside the browser<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>faster client for enterprise applications (e.g. databases)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>It can be used in various ways. For example, it can be used in existing JavaScript\/HTML code where it can be embedded. On the other hand, WebAssembly can be used as the main framework, while the UI is still in JavaScript\/HTML.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Less code, better performance, less bugs?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the WebAssembly group, WebAssembly means less source code. Compared to asm.js it means a reduction of about 25% in code size. Though this is just a prototype and results vary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So you&#8217;re probably wondering how to keep up-to-date on WebAssembly? I&#8217;d recommend the following useful WebAssembly resources:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/WebAssembly\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">GitHub page of WebAssembly<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/WebAssembly\/design\/blob\/master\/BinaryEncoding.md\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Design documentation of WebAssembly<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.w3.org\/community\/webassembly\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">W3C WebAssembly Community Group<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/javascript-scene\/what-is-webassembly-the-dawn-of-a-new-era-61256ec5a8f6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">What is WebAssembly by Eric Elliott\u00a0<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Update: Experimental Support for WebAssembly in V8<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Starting with March 15, WebAssembly is available in <a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/v8\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">V8, Google&#8217;s open source, JavaScript engine<\/a>. To get started, you need to run d8 version 5.1.117 or greater from the comand line with the<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-preformatted\">--expose_wasm \n<\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p>You can also turn on the WebAssembly feature under chrome:\/\/flags#enable-webassembly in Chrome Canary 51.0.2677.0 or greater. For further information, I recommend to check out this blog post <a href=\"http:\/\/v8project.blogspot.co.at\/2016\/03\/experimental-support-for-webassembly.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">announcing the experimental support for WebAssembly<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Update: One year after the initial release of WebAssembly<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>About one year ago (yep &#8211; it&#8217;s already been a year), WebAssembly was released to the public. A lot of things happened ever since and people started experimenting with WebAssembly. As we&#8217;ve been a keen observer of WebAssembly, we&#8217;re happy to see the progress which has been made. According to an <a href=\"https:\/\/hacks.mozilla.org\/2016\/03\/a-webassembly-milestone\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">official blog post<\/a>, the WebAssembly initiative made the following progress:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>a description and rationale of the initial feature set and planned future features;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>a specification and reference interpreter;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>13,000 lines of tests used to validate both the spec interpreter and browsers;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>a first draft of the binary format.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The progress seems promising and browsers are trying to offer early WebAssembly implementations in their browser engine. It&#8217;s now possible to build WebAssembly demos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em class=\"markup--em markup--p-em\">If you found this post interesting, follow us on <\/em><a class=\"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/usersnap\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/usersnap\"><em class=\"markup--em markup--p-em\">twitter<\/em><\/a><em class=\"markup--em markup--p-em\"> where we tweet about web development, web design and startups.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>This article was brought to you by <a href=\"https:\/\/usersnap.com?gat=blog-post\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Usersnap<\/a> &#8211; a visual bug tracking and screenshot tool for every web project.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Have you heard the news about WebAssembly? Google, Microsoft, Mozilla and others are teaming up for launching a new binary format for the web. We at Usersnap took a closer look on what WebAssembly is and why it\u2019s appearance and future development should matter to everyone! Even if you\u2019re not a developer! It will change [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":3173,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":true,"inline_featured_image":false,"ub_ctt_via":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-web-development-blog"],"acf":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/usersnap.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/what-is-webassembly-developer.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"Thomas Peham","author_link":"https:\/\/usersnap.com\/blog\/author\/thomas\/"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What is WebAssembly? And How Does It Affect Developers?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"WebAssembly affects the work of every web developer. At least it will do in the near future. You can build incredible things inside the browser. Read more.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usersnap.com\/blog\/what-is-webassembly-for-web-developer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What is WebAssembly? And How Does It Affect Developers?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"WebAssembly affects the work of every web developer. At least it will do in the near future. You can build incredible things inside the browser. 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