Should you Learn Rust and Web Assembly? (Wasm)

Rust is the programming language, and Wasm is a binary format that basically allows you to write super fast performing client-side code.

... Should you learn it now? Or is Rust and Wasm a need-to-nerd technology?

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#rust #wasm #webassembly

[mileslemon]

Figma is a browser based UI design tool similar to Sketch or Adobe Xd which is a great example of WASM in action.

[CosmiqPenguin]

Rust is similar to C or C++, so it is useful in areas outside of WebAssembly. As far as the web, it works well when creating apps in WebGL. I think it will be good for games or web graphics that need high performance.

[ashwin]

Wasm and webgl is really taking off figma, Photoshop, office, Google products everything uses wasm

[neilclay]

I think these are two technologies that could go somewhere. Rust solves a lot of memory handling issues using a static compile time borrow-checker - these problems that come back and bite C++ programmers years after deployment. Also it's as fast as C++ at runtime, and a little faster at write-time. And WASM may turn out to be platform independent - that could be a big deal.



Also, I think there's another very important point. Moore's Law no longer applies. CPUs are not getting faster like they were say 10 years ago. Talk to any hardware developer and they'll tell you that the next major speed increase will have to come from software. Low level and fast languages may well yet make a big comeback.

[khaix]

Rust isn't just for WASM, and WASM isn't just for the web.

[blank-vwsb]

I would rather do my serious projects is rust or c++
For me run time is more important than write time

[humilulo]

you fail to understand the advantage of the Rust programming language. security and bugs is a *huge* advantage. Quite frankly, Rust is destined to replace C and C++ because of all the memory leaks and bugs and security holes. if you look at the language itself, Rust is *amazing!!* It's revolutionary!

[anthonyrye]

I think there is some confusion as to what Rust Lang is vs wasm.
First off Rust is a low level functional language closer to c then c++ it runs just as fast as c. The difference is it limits unsafe code like open classes. Two examples off the top of my head is Mozzilla quantum browser, and Redox OS microkernel. For technical details I believe is available on Wikipedia. For Mozzilla you'll have to research the servo browser engine that allows the the browser to decide whether it needs CPU and GPU to render pages and thread the processes
As for the wasm portions and Rust if you have to write an app that needs static types this would be where Rust and wasm would shine, also to make the web app less vulnerable to malformed based attacks this would offer more security then standard js.
Also you can use Rust to perform certain types of math functions that are s little more difficult to do in js. Wasm basically allows you to create custom API s without having to change the jit itself. Like directly modifying Chrome's v8 engine or Mozzillas JavaScript engine. You pick whatever Lang you want to write your code in python, c, c++, Java doesn't matter you compile your code to clang, llvm, or similar compiler with wasm ext and then you can include the lib in your JavaScript code and call them from js with whatever parameters you set up your compiled code to use.
Hope the information was helpful.

[dddaamystuffhaha]

It's not necessary to learn Rust in order to use WebAssembly. We also have frameworks for WebAssembly in other languages (e g. for C# which is called Blazor). So I think it'd be better if you didn't include "Rust" in the title. But as always, this video is also helpful. Thanks!

[mileslemon]

Did you use the Rust (game) logo in the thumbnail by accident?

[worlasbiggs]

people dont understand that speed at runtime is almost always better than speed at development, because then we'd only use python. rust has built in webassembly tools, Rust is C++ speed without the worries about memory management, so you can write faster rust code than c++, im not saying rust is faster, im saying that rust can confidently be optimized without fear of runtime errors, rust is the monero of programming languages..Should you learn rust?? yes

[pikoapiko]

Web assembly hasn't convinced me yet. But Rust sits in s nice position between C++ and C#. I've ported some application to Rust. It's promising. The only problem is that there high risk platforms that the only reason they use c++ is because it's around for decades and systems have been stable for decades...while rust is still new

[ciscomartinez]

WebAssembly may have started as a way to compile C++ to JavaScript but now it has evolved into a build target for both web and desktop applications. At this point I'd say it's similar to JVM/CLR but with less overhead from the virtual machine.

[defendliberty]

WebAssembly is not only about efficiency, it is about choice of programming language, other than Javascript, for the client side. On most platforms developers have many choices, the browser should be no different.
Unfortunately, the web development world has been used to suboptimal (not only in the speed sense) or outright bad solutions for far too long.

[RDBeast]

I don't see web assembly replacing anything any time soon, your general site or web app that is, but it is certainly interesting, definitely worth keeping in the back of your mind. Perhaps one type of application that web assembly could really excel at in the future is for web based games.

[PaulSebastianM]

You can also use Kotlin and compile to WASM. Pretty soon you'll be able to use your favourite programming language and compile to WASM. So it's good to keep an eye open for the technology.

[victortruong]

Young new comer, have to thanks you for this advice!!!

You are amazing teacher sir !!! So valuable content

[jacobshore]

Rust is mostly a systems language. WASM is just one application of Rust. Many people are using it to replace C and C++ because of it's memory safety ideas.

[the.real.ipatch]

I agree with your point that using Rust + WASM is a hyper niche market for present day web apps, but if you're developing a client side browser based app such as a video game or a graphics editor / video editor then I could see how using Rust + WASM would be beneficial to improve app performance.

I disagree with letting the project managers or whomever to decide the tech for a new app rollout as their opinions / ideas can become dated rather quick as the landscape of client side browser tech evolves. Also I believe that Javascript/ECMAScript compiles to WASM as well, so if one already knows JS then compiling to WASM isn't completely out of the question. I have no idea whether the bytecode produced by Rust is more efficient than the bytecode that is transpiled from JS, but it should def be factored into the equation of writing an app that takes advantage of WASM.

Nonetheless good video, and video production.

[mtc]

The rust logo in the thumbnail is the logo of a video game called Rust. Not the language rust