MicroW8

GITHUB.IO

MicroW8 is a fantasy console - in other words, it is a virtual architecture inspired by the types of console some of us used to play and own a few decades ago, but is a console that never actually existed.

I love this stuff!

MicroW8 runs wasm modules of up to 256Kbtyes which can make use of a simple API which has various functions for creating graphics and supporting user input. If you like this sort of stuff, you might be interested in WASM-4, a slightly more established virtual console. I’d also encourage you to try writing your own - it will be a lot of fun.

WAPM: A Newly Renovated Home For WebAssembly

WASMER.IO

Wasmer were one of the first companies to create a WebAssembly runtime, which they rapidly integrated with a whole host of different languages and runtimes. As well as providign a runtime, they are supporting the WebAssembly ecosystem in other ways, including this project WAPM, a wasm module repository - think npm for WebAssembly. This blog post shares a number of updates to the WAPM website, which is looking pretty smart.

Rethinking Microservices

FERMYON.IO

Do you recall in issue 164 the lead article Pay Attention to WebAssembly? If not, go back and read it now! One of the many predictions Harshal Sheth made in that post was that WebAssembly will cause us to re-shape the ever-popular microservices pattern. Which is funnily enough the topic of this blog post.

This is a fantastic blog post that takes a critical look at the various assumptions that microservices architectures are built on (e.g. that every microserice needs to be a webserver)

What if we took the strong points of FaaS and ported them over to the microservice model? Could we build a better foundation for microservice architecture?

Very thought provoking.

How We Used WebAssembly To Speed Up Our Web App By 20X

WP-DD.COM

I hear there are still some folks using WebAssembly on the web? Yeah, proper old-school 🤣

Joking aside, this is a really good article which explores how WebAssembly improved the performance of an online DNA sequencing tool.

Let’s explore code signing with WebAssembly

NISHTAHIR.COM

Code signing is an important and useful tool for verifying the integrity of a library, application or product. It provides a guarantee that it was produced by a known party, and that it hasn’t been tampered with. This post shows you how to add a custom section to a wasm module in order to sign and verify its authenticity.

And Finally …

The 2021 state of JavaScript survey shows that WebAssembly usage is on the rise.