Why Rust and WebAssembly?
Low-Level Control with High-Level Ergonomics
JavaScript Web applications struggle to attain and retain reliable performance. JavaScript's dynamic type system and garbage collection pauses don't help. Seemingly small code changes can result in drastic performance regressions if you accidentally wander off the JIT's happy path.
Rust gives programmers low-level control and reliable performance. It is free from the non-deterministic garbage collection pauses that plague JavaScript. Programmers have control over indirection, monomorphization, and memory layout.
Small .wasm
Sizes
Code size is incredibly important since the .wasm
must be downloaded over the
network. Rust lacks a runtime, enabling small .wasm
sizes because there is no
extra bloat included like a garbage collector. You only pay (in code size) for
the functions you actually use.
Do Not Rewrite Everything
Existing code bases don't need to be thrown away. You can start by porting your most performance-sensitive JavaScript functions to Rust to gain immediate benefits. And you can even stop there if you want to.
Plays Well With Others
Rust and WebAssembly integrates with existing JavaScript tooling. It supports ECMAScript modules and you can continue using the tooling you already love, like npm and Webpack.
The Amenities You Expect
Rust has the modern amenities that developers have come to expect, such as:
-
strong package management with
cargo
, -
expressive (and zero-cost) abstractions,
-
and a welcoming community! 😊