OK, I’ve been a bit behind on things recently … it’s been 4 weeks since I last published a WasmWeekly (ahem) newsletter, and the articles have been piling up. This issue isn’t going to go into too much depth as there are quite a few articles to link to. Hopefully I’ll get back on top of things for the next issue.

Why Am I Excited About WebAssembly?

COLINBRECK.COM

This is a great little article that describes why the author is so excited about the potential for WebAssembly in IoT and Edge computing.

While tremendously valuable, using WebAssembly in a web browser is not what excites me. In fact, I know very little about web development. What excites me is the potential to securely and efficiently run code at both the edge and in the cloud to support the Internet of Things (IoT).

Project Jump Cannon: Choosing WASM

STELLAR.ORG

Jump Cannon is a smart contract engine, in other words, it is an engine that allows the execution of applications on a blockchain. This blog post describes various runtime options that might be appropriate for this task and why they ultimately picked WebAssembly 🎉

Implementing a WebAssembly Shopify Function using C++

MEDIUM.COM

Shopify is one of a growing number of platforms that allows people to ‘plug in’ their own code. A little while back the Shopify team launched a plug-in system based on WebAssembly, this blog post gives a practical example.

An essay on the bi-directional exchange of strings between the Wasm module (with TinyGo) and Node.js (with WASI support)

WASM.BUILDERS

If you are the sort of person that likes to know how things work ‘under the covers’ this is a great blog post for you. It details the challenges faced when trying to send strings, or receive them from WebAssembly modules.

Video: The future of composable software

YOUTUBE.COM

The WebAssembly component model proposal appears to be gaining traction, with the promise of seamless language interop. This short video gives a brief and practical introduction.

With the WebAssembly component model. you’ll never have to worry about “the bi-directional exchange of strings” again!

Wordpress running in the browser

WASMLABS.DEV

This is definitely one to file under “awesome things built with WebAssembly that probably shouldn’t be”! And while this isn’t a terribly practical thing to build with WebAssembly, it is pretty amazing seeing a sizeable PHP and SQLite application running entirely in the browser. There’s also an article that explores all the technical details.

Using C# WebAssembly without using Blazor

LOUISJR.DEV

Blazor and the use of C# for creating WebAssembly applications is really gaining momentum. But what if you just want to run some simple C# code without a UI? In this case Blazor is a bit heavyweight. This blog post shows how to use C# without the full weight of the Blazor runtime.