WebAssembly in Action

Summary

WebAssembly in Action introduces the WebAssembly stack and walks you through the process of writing and running browser-based applications. Expert developer Gerard Gallant gives you a firm foundation of the structure of a module, HTML basics, JavaScript Promises, and the WebAssembly JavaScript API.

Purchase of the print book includes a free eBook in PDF, Kindle, and ePub formats from Manning Publications.

About the Technology

Write high-performance browser-based applications without relying only on JavaScript! By compiling to the WebAssembly binary format, your C, C++, or Rust code runs at near-native speed in the browser. WebAssembly delivers greater speed, opportunities to reuse existing code, and access to newer and faster libraries. Plus, you can easily interact with JavaScript when you need to.

About the Book

WebAssembly in Action teaches you how to write and run high-performance browser-based applications using C++ and other languages supported by WebAssembly. In it, you’ll learn to create native WebAssembly modules, interact with JavaScript components, and maximize performance with web workers and pthreads. And you’ll love how the clearly organized sections make it a breeze to find the important details about every function, feature, and technique.

What’s inside

• Dynamic linking of multiple modules at runtime
• Communicating between modules and JavaScript
• Debugging with WebAssembly Text Format
• Threading with web workers and pthreads

About the Reader

Written for developers with a basic understanding of C/C++, JavaScript, and HTML.

About the Author

Gerard Gallant is a Microsoft Certified Professional and a Senior Software Developer at Dovico Software. He blogs regularly on Blogger.com and DZone.com.

Table of Contents

PART 1 – FIRST STEPS
1. Meet WebAssembly
2. A look inside WebAssembly modules
3. Creating your first WebAssembly module

PART 2 – WORKING WITH MODULES
1. Reusing your existing C++ codebase
2. Creating a WebAssembly module that calls into JavaScript
3. Creating a WebAssembly module that talks to JavaScript using function pointers

PART 3 – ADVANCED TOPICS
1. Dynamic linking: The basics
2. Dynamic linking: The implementation
3. Threading: Web workers and pthreads
4. WebAssembly modules in Node.js

PART 4 – DEBUGGING AND TESTING
1. WebAssembly text format
2. Debugging
3. Testing—and then what?