WebAssembly: Yes, but for What?
WebAssembly (Wasm) has proven effective for porting large C and C++ desktop applications to the Web and embedding components such as file handlers, per-pixel processors, and libraries like SQLite. Its strengths lie in use cases that require strong isolation between program components, such as browse...
| Publicado en: | Communications of the ACM Vol. 68; no. 11; pp. 50 - 55 |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
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Association for Computing Machinery
Nov2025
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=188947704&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 188947704 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00010782 ACM jtl: Communications of the ACM issn: 00010782 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Nov2025 vid: 68 iid: 11 pid: 68 pub: Association for Computing Machinery artinfo: ui: 188947704 10.1145/3769473 ppf: 50 ppct: 5 formats: tig: atl: WebAssembly: Yes, but for What? aug: au: Wingo, Andy affil: Igalia, S.L., La Coruna, Spain su: Source code Compilers (Computer programs) Binary codes Application program interfaces Artificial intelligence Data security Cloud computing sug: subj: Source code Compilers (Computer programs) Binary codes Application program interfaces Artificial intelligence Data security Cloud computing ab: WebAssembly (Wasm) has proven effective for porting large C and C++ desktop applications to the Web and embedding components such as file handlers, per-pixel processors, and libraries like SQLite. Its strengths lie in use cases that require strong isolation between program components, such as browser plug-ins, virtualization, or security-critical software, while traditional web languages like JavaScript and TypeScript remain better suited for user-facing interfaces. Wasm also shows promise in cloud and confidential computing due to its fast cold-start characteristics, minimal abstraction overhead, and robust memory-safety guarantees, suggesting potential applications in operating-system drivers, isolated modules, or artificial intelligence tasks that handle sensitive data. Overall, the platform’s pattern of success points to environments where isolation, security, and controlled execution are prioritized. pubtype: Periodical doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y dt: @attributes: year: 2025 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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