| Name | Size | License | Age | Last Published |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| file-type | 21.57 kB | MIT | 9 Years | 4 Jun 2023 |
| @webassemblyjs/ast | 21.73 kB | MIT | 5 Years | 9 May 2023 |
| @webassemblyjs/wasm-parser | 12.72 kB | MIT | 5 Years | 9 May 2023 |
| @webassemblyjs/wast-printer | 4.01 kB | MIT | 5 Years | 9 May 2023 |
| @webassemblyjs/floating-point-hex-parser | 2.37 kB | MIT | 5 Years | 9 May 2023 |
| @assemblyscript/loader | 11.4 kB | Apache-2.0 | 4 Years | 14 Aug 2023 |
| @webassemblyjs/wast-parser | 13 kB | MIT | 5 Years | 9 May 2023 |
| assemblyscript | 1.26 MB | Apache-2.0 | 6 Years | 14 Aug 2023 |
| xxhash-wasm | 13.46 kB | MIT | 6 Years | 2 Nov 2022 |
| @gfx/zopfli | 47.1 kB | Apache-2.0 | 6 Years | 30 Jul 2020 |
| @wasmer/wasi | 2 MB | MIT | 4 Years | 1 Dec 2022 |
| binaryen | 6.65 MB | Apache-2.0 | 6 Years | 29 Jun 2023 |
| hash-wasm | 496.74 kB | MIT | 3 Years | 22 Jul 2021 |
| wrangler | 1.23 MB | MIT OR Apache-2.0 | 11 Years | 13 Sep 2023 |
| camaro | 107.67 kB | MIT | 6 Years | 20 Aug 2023 |
WebAssembly libraries are useful in a variety of scenarios for web developers, enabling them to execute code more swiftly in comparison to JavaScript, while maintaining high security and efficiency. These libraries are typically thought of in the realm of:
Performance-intensive operations: WebAssembly is well-suited for performance-crunching calculations such as cryptography, video decoding, and physics simulations. It runs at near-native performance which makes it an ideal tool for such operations.
Porting desktop applications to the web: WebAssembly lets programmers convert old legacy code (written in C, C++, or Rust) to run smoothly on the web without completely re-writing them.
Solving JavaScript shortcomings: WebAssembly is suitable when you need performance that JavaScript can't deliver, like heavy mathematics and memory management.
Creating and Rendering Graphics and Games: The speed and execution efficiency of WebAssembly make it the perfect choice for game developers and graphic programmers.
WebAssembly libraries usually exhibit the following functionalities:
Near-native performance: WebAssembly is a low-level bytecode that runs at high speed by taking advantage of common hardware capabilities.
Language Support: It doesn't confine you to a particular language. You can write in languages such as C, C++, Rust, etc. and compile that code to WebAssembly.
Security: WebAssembly offers a sandboxed execution environment. Even if a WebAssembly module contains malicious code, it's prevented from accessing other parts of the system without explicit user permission.
Efficiency: WebAssembly binaries are compact and designed to be fast to decode and execute.
Interoperability: WebAssembly works well with other web technologies—it can communicate with JavaScript, and it can manipulate the DOM through JavaScript.
When deploying WebAssembly for your projects, there are a few gotchas/pitfalls to look out for:
Compatibility: Although WebAssembly is supported by major browsers, there are still some outdated ones that may not support it.
Debugging: Standard JavaScript tools don't work for WebAssembly, making debugging a bit of a challenge. Debugging support is continuously improving, but it's not yet as mature as JavaScript's tooling.
Start-up performance: WebAssembly modules can sometimes be large, leading to slower start-up times for your apps. It's crucial to implement lazy-loading and use npm packages that convert to WebAssembly only when necessary.
Remember, while npm does provide a way to distribute and consume JavaScript packages, it doesn't handle the variation in implementation details across different environments. It’s the developer's responsibility to ensure the modules work correctly in their specific environments.
