Beyond JavaScript: Wasm GC present and future
H.1309 (Van Rijn) | Day 1 | 17:00 - 17:30 | Speakers: David Thompson
Abstract
The WebAssembly (Wasm) 1.0 specification is a linear memory system suitable as a compiler target for static languages like C and Rust. However, the recently released Wasm 3.0 specification, which includes garbage collected reference type instructions, has opened the door to using all kinds of dynamic languages on the web. Wasm GC compilers already exist for languages such as Java, Scala, Kotlin, OCaml, and Scheme. However, the value of Wasm GC is often misunderstood! In this talk, I'll attempt to clear things up by examining the benefits and drawbacks of Wasm GC at present and how compiling to Wasm GC stacks up against compiling to JavaScript (or just using plain ol' Javascript). I'll conclude with a brief look at some proposals from the Wasm Community Group that could improve Wasm GC in the near future.
Speakers
David is the CTO at the Spritely Institute, a US-based nonprofit working on decentralized networking technology for safe collaboration. At Spritely, he works on Goblins, a capability-secure distributed programming environment, and Hoot, a Scheme to WebAssembly compiler and general-purpose WebAssembly toolchain. He is a longtime contributor to the Guile and Guix projects and the author of software such as Haunt, a purely functional static site generator.
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