WebAssembly: TinyGo vs. Rust vs. AssemblyScript

WebAssembly is a new and revolutionary technology that is designed to allow developers to run high-performance, low-level code in the browser. This is important because it enables developers to create applications that are fast, efficient, and powerful, and that can be run on the web without the need for a separate runtime or environment.

But what are the best languages for writing WebAssembly code, and how do they compare? In this article, we will explore three popular languages for WebAssembly – TinyGo, Rust, and AssemblyScript – and we will compare their features, benefits, and drawbacks.

TinyGo is a lightweight and compact programming language that is designed for the Go runtime and the WebAssembly platform. TinyGo is based on the Go language, and it provides many of the same features and benefits, such as garbage collection, concurrency, and standard libraries.

Rust is a systems programming language that is designed for safety, performance, and concurrency. Rust provides many features that are important for WebAssembly, such as low-level control, memory safety, and strong type checking.

AssemblyScript is a subset of TypeScript that is designed for the WebAssembly platform. AssemblyScript provides many of the same features and benefits as TypeScript, such as static typing, type inference, and type checking, but it compiles to WebAssembly instead of JavaScript.

Here is a sample of TinyGo code that shows how to use the WebAssembly standard library to create a simple “Hello, World” application:

package main

import "syscall/js"

func main() {
	// Create a new text element
	text := js.Global().Get("document").Call("createTextNode", "Hello, World!")

	// Add the text element to the body of the page
	js.Global().Get("document").Get("body").Call("appendChild", text)
}

Here is a sample of Rust code that shows how to use the WebAssembly standard library to create a simple “Hello, World” application:

use wasm_bindgen::prelude::*;

#[wasm_bindgen]
pub fn say_hello() {
	let message = "Hello, World!";
	let text = document.create_text_node(message);
	document.body().unwrap().append_child(&text).unwrap();
}

Here is a sample of AssemblyScript code that shows how to use the WebAssembly standard library to create a simple “Hello, World” application:

import * as document from "./document";

export function sayHello(): void {
	// Create a new text element
	const text = document.createTextNode("Hello, World!");

	// Add the text element to the body of the page
	document.body.appendChild(text);
}

In conclusion, TinyGo, Rust, and AssemblyScript are all excellent choices for writing WebAssembly code. Each language has its own strengths and weaknesses.

• computers
• programming