WebAssembly alliance between browsers could speed the web

Microsoft, Google and Mozilla have started a new initiative that aims to boost the speed of the Internet. WebAssembly is a new binary format for compiling applications for the web.

It will allow programmers to compile their code for the browser (initially only C/C++, with other languages to follow), where it is then executed inside the JavaScript engine. The advantage of the new standard is that it can be decoded quite fast.

"I think this is a good evolution trajectory of the Web platform to try and reach the performance ... of native languages on mobile devices," wrote IDC software development analyst Al Hilwa, in an email. "I think it is early days but the Web platform is moving faster than ever these days and so everyone is paying more attention to these developments."

The aim is that WebAssembly provides developers with a single compilation target for the web that will, eventually, become a web standard that's implemented in all browsers.

Read more -here-