Table of Contents
Emscripten
Emscripten is an open-source LLVM-based compiler that transforms C and C++ code into WebAssembly and JavaScript. The main purpose of Emscripten is to enable developers to port applications and games originally written in C or C++ to run efficiently in web browsers. The tool provides a complete environment where the code can be compiled, linked, and executed using modern web technologies, making it a key solution for developers seeking cross-platform compatibility. Emscripten can convert applications to the web with minimal modifications, streamlining the process of bringing native programs to browsers.
The Emscripten compiler toolchain translates low-level system calls used in applications into browser-compatible functions. By compiling code to WebAssembly or asm.js, developers are able to use applications that require high performance, such as 3D games, simulations, and productivity tools, on the web. In this way, Emscripten plays a pivotal role in enhancing the web as a robust platform for delivering complex applications.
Emscripten incorporates POSIX-style system call emulation, meaning that many existing libraries and frameworks designed for native systems can be reused in the browser environment. Additionally, the technology supports multi-threading through WebAssembly’s SharedArrayBuffer, allowing developers to build high-performance web applications that can run in parallel. The interoperability between the original code and the web ensures that a wide variety of applications can be ported with minimal effort.
One notable aspect of Emscripten is its capacity to handle complex graphics workloads. It includes support for OpenGL-to-WebGL translation, making it a powerful tool for porting graphics-intensive applications such as 3D engines and visualization tools to the web. This graphics translation layer allows developers to maintain the original functionality of the software while ensuring that it runs in a browser with hardware-accelerated rendering. The WebGL standard is widely supported across modern browsers, furthering the reach of applications built with Emscripten.
The versatility of Emscripten extends beyond gaming and graphics. It can be used in scientific simulations, productivity tools, and multimedia applications. This is due to its ability to convert native code into high-performance, browser-friendly code without sacrificing significant functionality. Developers can leverage the power of existing C or C++ codebases, while simultaneously delivering the applications via the web with minimal performance overhead.
Porting applications with Emscripten also grants access to the rich ecosystem of web APIs. Applications compiled with Emscripten can make use of browser features such as WebAudio, WebRTC, and other modern APIs to interact with hardware or facilitate real-time communication. This opens up new opportunities for developers to extend their existing applications to new use cases, such as collaborative tools or media-rich web applications.
The development of Emscripten has been heavily influenced by community contributions and official documentation. Various RFC standards have also shaped the technology’s evolution, providing guidelines for the implementation of web standards such as WebAssembly and WebGL. Although there is no specific RFC associated directly with Emscripten, it relies on standards defined in RFC 8089 for file system interactions in web contexts and RFC 7231 for handling HTTP communication. These standards allow Emscripten applications to interact seamlessly with the web environment, ensuring robust and predictable behavior in browsers.
Performance is another key strength of Emscripten. The toolchain is optimized to generate highly efficient code for both WebAssembly and JavaScript. WebAssembly in particular provides near-native performance by running in a low-level, binary format that is executed directly by the browser's engine. This makes Emscripten an ideal solution for performance-sensitive applications, where maintaining speed is critical.
When compiling code with Emscripten, developers have access to a wide range of optimization options. These options allow for fine-tuning the performance characteristics of the resulting web application, such as minimizing load times or maximizing runtime performance. Furthermore, Emscripten’s integration with LLVM allows for continued advances in compiler optimization, benefitting from the broader development of LLVM’s optimization infrastructure.
Debugging support is another area where Emscripten shines. The environment supports source maps and detailed debugging tools, allowing developers to trace back errors in the compiled WebAssembly or JavaScript code to the original C or C++ source code. This makes it easier to diagnose issues and ensures that the debugging process remains relatively familiar for developers who are accustomed to working with native environments.
Emscripten also provides a comprehensive file system emulation. It allows applications to read and write files as if they were running on a traditional operating system. By using the virtual file system, developers can replicate the behavior of file-based applications within the browser, opening up possibilities for a range of use cases, from gaming to data analysis tools. Moreover, Emscripten supports the inclusion of large data files as part of the compiled output, ensuring that resource-heavy applications function as expected.
Over time, the toolchain has evolved to support newer web technologies and hardware capabilities. WebAssembly threads, SIMD, and dynamic linking are just a few of the advanced features that are now available in Emscripten applications. These features contribute to making the web a platform that is not just for light, interactive applications, but also for heavy, performance-critical software typically associated with native desktop environments.
One of the primary goals of Emscripten is to simplify the developer experience. To that end, it offers a variety of tools and resources, such as pre-configured environments and helper libraries, to speed up the development process. Additionally, developers can integrate the Emscripten toolchain with existing build systems like CMake to ensure smooth compilation workflows that resemble native development processes.
Conclusion
Emscripten has grown into a powerful solution for bringing native C and C++ applications to the web. It leverages modern technologies like WebAssembly and WebGL to offer performance close to native environments. Through its compatibility with POSIX system calls and graphics frameworks, it opens up possibilities for a wide range of applications. While there is no specific RFC assigned to Emscripten, it relies on RFC 8089 and RFC 7231 for key aspects like file handling and HTTP communication. By bridging the gap between native and web development, Emscripten offers developers the flexibility to port high-performance applications to the web with minimal effort. The future of Emscripten looks promising, with ongoing improvements in the web ecosystem continuing to expand its capabilities.
GitHub: https://github.com/emscripten-core/emscripten
- Snippet from Wikipedia: Emscripten
Emscripten is an LLVM/Clang-based compiler that compiles C and C++ source code to WebAssembly, primarily for execution in web browsers.
Emscripten allows applications and libraries written in C or C++ to be compiled ahead of time and run efficiently in web browsers, typically at speeds comparable to or faster than interpreted or dynamically compiled JavaScript. It even emulates an entire POSIX operating system, enabling programmers to use functions from the C standard library (libc).
With the more recent development of the WebAssembly System Interface (WASI) and WebAssembly runtimes such as Node.js, Wasmtime, and Wasmer, Emscripten can also be used to compile to WebAssembly for execution in non-Web embeddings as well.
Abstract Syntax Tree (AST), Abstraction Layer, Addressing Modes, Ahead-of-Time Compilation (AOT), Alignment Constraints, Alignment Requirements, Asynchronous Functions in WebAssembly, AST Nodes, Atomic Instructions, Attribute Macros, Backwards Compatibility, Benchmarking WebAssembly, Binary Encoding, Binary Format Specification, Binary Format, Binary Modules, Binaryen, Block Instructions, Branch Instructions, Browser Compatibility, Browser Integration, Bytecode Instructions, Bytecode, Call Indirect Instructions, Call Instructions, Code Bloat, Code Caching, Code Generation, Code Reuse, Compilation Phases, Compilation Pipeline, Compilation Target, Compiler Toolchain, Compiling C to WebAssembly, Compiling Rust to WebAssembly, Compiling to WebAssembly, Compressed Instructions, Concurrency, Control Flow Graph, Control Flow Graphs, Control Flow Instructions, Control Instructions, Cross-Compilation Toolchains, Cross-Compilation, Custom Sections, Custom Toolchains, Data Encoding, Data Segments, Debugger, Debugging Support, Debugging Symbols, Decoding WebAssembly, Deterministic Execution, Dynamic Linking Proposal, Dynamic Linking, Dynamic Memory Allocation, Dynamic Module Loading, Ecosystem, Embedding WebAssembly, Emscripten, Endianness, Engine Implementations, Engine, Environment Variables in WASI, Error Handling Mechanisms, Error Handling, Exception Handling Proposal, Exception Handling, Execution Context, Exports, Extensibility Mechanisms, Extensibility, External Function Interface, External Interface, External Interfaces, Feature Detection, Floating Point Operations, Floating Point Types, Function Bodies, Function Calls, Function Imports, Function Indices, Function References, Function Signatures, Function Tables, Garbage Collection Proposal, Garbage Collection Types, Garbage Collection, Garbage-Collected References, Global Indices, Global Variables, Globalization Support, High-Level Language Integration, High-Level Languages Support, Host APIs, Host Bindings, Host Environment, Host Functions, Host Security, Import Object, Import Objects, Import Resolution, Import Section, Importing Modules, Incompatible Changes, Indexing, Inline Assembly, Inline Caching, Instruction Decoding, Instruction Encoding, Instruction Set Architecture, Instruction Set, Integer Operations, Integration with Browsers, Integration with JavaScript, Interleaving Execution, Intermediate Representation, Interoperability with JavaScript, Interoperability, Interpreter, Interpreters, Intrinsic Functions, JIT Compilation, Just-in-Time Compilation (JIT), Known Issues, Label Nodes, Language Targets, Lazy Compilation, Lazy Instantiation, Linear Memory, Linking Modules, Linking Section, Linking, Loader, Local Indices, Local Variables, Loop Constructs, Low-Level Code, Machine Code Generation, Machine Code, Memory Allocation, Memory Indices, Memory Initializer, Memory Management, Memory Model, Memory Pages, Metadata Section, Metadata, Module Imports, Module Instance, Module Linking Proposal, Module Linking, Module Structure, Module Validation, Module, Multi-Language Support, Multi-Memory Proposal, Multi-Module Applications, Multi-Threading, Multi-Value, Mutable Globals, Name Mangling, Name Resolution, Name Section, Native Execution, Native Modules, Non-Trapping Float-to-Int Conversions, Numeric Instructions, Object Files, Object Format, Opcode Encoding, Opcode, Optimization Passes, Optimizations, Optimizing Compiler, Parameter Passing, Passive Data Segments, Performance Analysis, Performance Optimization, Persistent Memory, Pinned Memory, Platform Independence, Polyfill Implementations, Polyfill, Portable Code, Portable Executables, Post-Order Traversal, Precompiled Modules, Proposals Process, Reference Counting, Reference Types Proposal, Reference Types, Relocation Entries, Relocatable Code, Return Values, Runtime Environment, Runtime Errors, Runtime Support, Runtime, Sandboxed Execution, Sandboxing Techniques, Sandboxing, Security Audits, Security Considerations, Security Model, Shared Linear Memory, Shared Memory Proposal, Shared Memory, Shared Table, Side Modules, SIMD Extensions, SIMD Instructions, SIMD Proposal, Source Mapping, Stack Machine Architecture, Stack Machine Model, Stack Machine, Stack Management, Start Function, Streaming APIs, Streaming Compilation, Streaming Instantiation, String Encoding, String Manipulation, Structured Control Flow, Structured Exception Handling, Symbol Resolution, Table Elements, Table Initialization, Tail Call Optimization, Tail Calls Proposal, Tail Calls, Testing Frameworks, Text Format, Textual Representation, Threading Model, Threads Proposal, Toolchain, Trap Handling, Trap Instructions, Trap Representations, Type Checking, Type Constraints, Type Definitions, Type Inference, Type Signature, Type System, Unmanaged Code, Validation Algorithm, Validation Module, Validation Rules, Validation, Value Stack, Value Types, Variable Length Encoding, Variable Mappings, Vector Instructions, Vector Operations, Virtual Machine, VM Implementations, WABT (WebAssembly Binary Toolkit), WASI (WebAssembly System Interface), WASI Filesystem API, WASI Networking API, WASI Standardization, Wasm Backend, WASM Backend, Wasm Binaries, WASM Binary Format, WASM Extensions, Wasm Fiddle, Wasm Parser, WASM Modules, Wasm Runtime, wasm-bindgen, wasm-pack, wasmer Runtime, wasmer, wasmtime Runtime, wasmtime, wat2wasm Tool, WebAssembly ABI, WebAssembly and AssemblyScript, WebAssembly and Blazor, WebAssembly and C++ Integration, WebAssembly and Go Integration, WebAssembly and Rust Integration, WebAssembly AssemblyScript, WebAssembly Backend for LLVM, WebAssembly Backend, WebAssembly Binary Format (WASM), WebAssembly Binary Format, WebAssembly Binary Toolkit (WABT), WebAssembly Bridge, WebAssembly Bytecode, WebAssembly Compilation, WebAssembly Components, WebAssembly Community Group, WebAssembly Core Specification, WebAssembly Debug Adapter Protocol, WebAssembly Debugging, WebAssembly Engine, WebAssembly Exception Handling, WebAssembly Execution, WebAssembly Function Signature, WebAssembly Garbage Collection Proposal, WebAssembly Garbage Collection, WebAssembly Garbage Collector, WebAssembly High-Level Languages, WebAssembly Host Bindings, WebAssembly Interface Types in XML (WITX), WebAssembly Interface Types, WebAssembly Interpreter, WebAssembly JavaScript Interface (WASMJS), WebAssembly JavaScript Interface, WebAssembly Loader, WebAssembly Micro Runtime (WAMR), WebAssembly Module Linking, WebAssembly Module, WebAssembly MVP (Minimum Viable Product), WebAssembly Object Format, WebAssembly Polyfill, WebAssembly Proposals, WebAssembly Reference Implementation, WebAssembly Reference Types, WebAssembly Runtime, WebAssembly Security, WebAssembly SIMD, WebAssembly Specification, WebAssembly Stack Machine, WebAssembly Streaming APIs, WebAssembly Streaming, WebAssembly Studio, WebAssembly System Interface (WASI), WebAssembly Table, WebAssembly Text Format (WAT), WebAssembly Text Format, WebAssembly Threads Proposal, WebAssembly Threads, WebAssembly Toolchain, WebAssembly Type System, WebAssembly Validator, WebAssembly Virtual Machine, WebAssembly WITX Files, WebAssembly Working Group, WebIDL Bindings, Zero-Cost Abstractions, Zero-Fill Memory
WebAssembly: Wasm, Emscripten, WebAssembly in the Cloud, WebAssembly and Kubernetes, WebAssembly and Istio, Rust on Wasm, C++ on Wasm, C# on Wasm (Blazor), WebAssembly System Interface (WASI), waPC (WebAssembly Procedure Calls), Python on Wasm (Pyodide), WebAssembly Bibliography - Wasm Bibliography, WebAssembly GitHub - Wasm GitHub, Awesome WebAssembly - Awesome Wasm. (navbar_wasm - see also navbar_browsers)
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