Press Release: World Wide Web Consortium brings a new language to the Web as WebAssembly becomes a W3C Recommendation

Dear friends of W3C,
 
Today the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) announces that the WebAssembly Core Specification is now an official web standard, launching a powerful new language for the Web. 
 
Following HTML, CSS and Javascript, WebAssembly becomes the fourth language for the Web which allows code to run in the browser.
 
WebAssembly is a safe, portable, low-level format designed for efficient execution and compact representation of code on modern processors including in a web browser.
 
Please see the press release at: https://www.w3.org/2019/12/pressrelease-wasm-rec.html.en and as text below.

Please contact me to learn more or to schedule an interview.
 
Thank you. 
best,
Amy van der Hiel
W3C Media Relations Coordinator

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   [1]W3C  

      [1] 
https://www.w3.org/


  World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) brings a new language to the Web as
                WebAssembly becomes a W3C Recommendation

Following HTML, CSS and Javascript, WebAssembly becomes the fourth
language for the Web which allows code to run in the browser
     __________________________________________________________

   Read [2]testimonials from W3C Members

   [3]Translations | [4]W3C Press Release Archive
     __________________________________________________________

      [3] 
https://www.w3.org/Press/Releases-2019#wasm-rec

      [4] 
https://www.w3.org/Press/


   [5]webassembly black and white logo

      [5] 
https://www.w3.org/TR/wasm-core-1/


   [6]
https://www.w3.org/
 — 5 December 2019 — The World Wide Web
   Consortium (W3C) announced today that the [7]WebAssembly Core
   Specification is now an official web standard, launching a
   powerful new language for the Web. WebAssembly is a safe,
   portable, low-level format designed for efficient execution and
   compact representation of code on modern processors including
   in a web browser.

      [6] 
https://www.w3.org/

      [7] 
https://www.w3.org/TR/wasm-core-1/


   “The arrival of WebAssembly expands the range of applications
   that can be achieved by simply using Open Web Platform
   technologies. In a world where machine learning and Artificial
   Intelligence become more and more common, it is important to
   enable high performance applications on the Web, without
   compromising the safety of the users,” declared Philippe Le
   Hégaret, W3C Project Lead.

  High-performance applications relying on a low-level infrastructure

   At its core, WebAssembly is a virtual instruction set
   architecture that enables high-performance applications on the
   Web, and can be employed in many other environments. There are
   multiple implementations of WebAssembly, including browsers and
   stand-alone systems. WebAssembly can be used for applications
   like video and audio codecs, graphics and 3D, multi-media and
   games, cryptographic computations or portable language
   implementations.

  WebAssembly enhances Web Performance

   WebAssembly improves Web performance and power consumption by
   being a virtual machine and execution environment enabling
   loaded pages to run as native compiled code. In other words,
   WebAssembly enables near-native performance, optimized load
   time, and perhaps most importantly, a compilation target for
   existing code bases.

   Despite a small number of native types, much of the performance
   increase relative to Javascript derives from its use of
   consistent typing. WebAssembly leverages decades of
   optimization for compiled languages and its byte code is
   optimized for compactness and streaming. A web page can start
   executing while the rest of the code downloads. Network and API
   access occurs through accompanying Javascript libraries. The
   security model is identical to that of Javascript.

  Future versions already in the works

   The [8]WebAssembly Working Group and the companion [9]Community
   Group, where requirements gathering and language development
   take place, are already working on a range of features for
   future versions of the standard, including:

      [8] 
https://www.w3.org/wasm/

      [9] 
https://www.w3.org/community/webassembly/


   Threading
          Threads provide the benefits of shared-memory
          multi-threading and atomic memory accesses.

   Fixed-width SIMD
          Vector operations that execute loops in parallel.

   Reference types
          Allow WebAssembly code to directly reference host
          objects.

   Tail calls
          Enable calling functions without using extra stack
          space.

   ECMAScript module integration
          Interact with Javascript by loading WebAssembly
          executables as ES6 modules.

   There are many other [10]longer-term projects including several
   aimed at improving the usability and availability of
   WebAssembly. For example garbage collection, debugging
   interfaces, and WebAssembly System Interface (WASI), which is a
   set of modules for low-level system functionality such as file
   and network access.

     [10] 
https://github.com/WebAssembly/design/blob/master/FutureFeatures.md


   WebAssembley joins the many W3C standards that define an Open
   Web Platform for application development with unprecedented
   potential to enable developers to build powerful, interactive
   experiences that are available on any device.

About the World Wide Web Consortium

   The mission of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is to lead
   the Web to its full potential by creating technical standards
   and guidelines to ensure that the Web remains open, accessible,
   and interoperable for everyone around the globe. W3C well-known
   standards HTML and CSS are the foundational technologies upon
   which websites are built. W3C works on ensuring that all
   foundational Web technologies meet the needs of civil society,
   in areas such as accessibility, internationalization, security,
   and privacy. W3C also provides the standards that undergird the
   infrastructure for modern businesses leveraging the Web, in
   areas such as entertainment, communications, digital
   publishing, and financial services. That work is created in the
   open, provided for free and under the groundbreaking W3C Patent
   Policy. For our work to make online videos more accessible with
   captions and subtitles, W3C received a 2016 Emmy Award. And for
   its work to standardize a Full TV Experience on the Web, W3C
   received a 2019 Emmy Award.

   W3C's vision for "One Web" brings together thousands of
   dedicated technologists representing more than 400 [11]Member
   organizations and dozens of industry sectors. W3C is jointly
   hosted by the [12]MIT Computer Science and Artificial
   Intelligence Laboratory (MIT CSAIL) in the United States, the
   [13]European Research Consortium for Informatics and
   Mathematics (ERCIM) headquartered in France, [14]Keio
   University in Japan and [15]Beihang University in China. For
   more information see [16]
https://www.w3.org/.


     [11] 
https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Member/List

     [12] 
https://www.csail.mit.edu/

     [13] 
https://www.ercim.eu/

     [14] 
https://www.keio.ac.jp/

     [15] 
http://ev.buaa.edu.cn/

     [16] 
https://www.w3.org/


   End Press Release

Media Contact

   Amy van der Hiel, W3C Media Relations Coordinator
   <[17]w3t-pr@w3.org>
  mailto:w3t-pr@w3.org

   +1.617.253.5628 (US, Eastern Time)
     __________________________________________________________

Testimonials from W3C members

   [18]360 • [19]Alibaba Group • [20]Agora.io • [21]Baidu •
   [22]Huawei • [23]Tencent • [24]Xiaomi

  360

     "WebAssembly 规范的推出，进一步拓展了 Web 技术的应用
     场景，让以往无法想象的应用成为可能，也为开发社区提供了更多选择， 为提升用户体验提供了技术保障。WebAssembly
     标准的正式发布，让 Web 技术社区不再满足于浅尝辄止的保守应用，终于可以大胆地将其作为一个
     正式的选型方案，这也势必会大力推进相应行业场景的发展。期待在 WebAssembly 标准化的推进过程中看到更多的
     WASM 应用大放异彩。 "


    胡尊杰，360 奇舞团 Web 前端技术经 理

  Alibaba Group

     "Alibaba is pleased to see that WebAssembly finally becomes
     a W3C Recommendation. We hope this new standard could
     trigger more innovation from the developer community as well
     as to enrich the functionality and experiences of the Web."


    Hongru(Judy) Zhu, W3C Advisory Board Member, General Manager
    of Standardization Department, Alibaba Group

  Agora.io

     "WebAssembly makes it possible to provide strong computing
     capabilities on Web. It will exceedingly expand the
     application scenario of Web Apps, and rapidly increase the
     chance of developing compute-intensive Apps including
     real-time video/audio processing, hardcore games and AI with
     Web technologies. As an RTC service provider, Agora is
     devoted to deliver services with better real-time
     performance. We have released products based on WebAssembly,
     which enhances the performance and compatibility of video
     stream processing. We belief WebAssembly will be the most
     important option for Web developers to implement high
     performance Web Apps."


    Chun Gao，Senior Architect of Agora

  Baidu

     " 热烈祝贺 WebAssembly 标准正式发布！百度一直是 W3C 的坚定支持者和参与者、贡献者和先行者，在
     WebAssembly 的 runtime 平台技术、小程序小游戏和区块链技术等各个方面都有不错的应
     用。随着标准的发布，我们将继续联合产业同仁一起打造开放、平等、协 作、分享的 Web 新生态。也期待
     WebAssembly 标准能为 Web 新生态的繁 荣注入全新动力！"


    吴萍，百度 App 主任架构师

  Huawei

     "Congrats to this new milestone of WebAssembly. We believe
     it’s a very promising technology - it enhances the
     performance of Web and also acts as a nice bridge between
     Web and non-Web platforms. We look forward to more adoptions
     of WebAssembly in practice."


    Zhiqiang Yu，W3C Advisory Committee Representative of Huawei

  Tencent

     " Web 的能力越来越强，承载的业务越来越复杂，需要的 计算能力也越来越高。随着 WebAssembly
     技术飞速发展，我们终于迎来了 WebAssembly 标准的正式发布。2008 年我们迎来了 Web 性能的第一次飞 跃
     JIT 技术，如今 WebAssembly 将再一次大幅提升 Web 性能。我们得以 将更多桌面端的软件高效地移植到
     Web，同时也可以在 Web 中使用 C/C++、Rust、Go 来优化需要大量计算的模块。WebAssembly
     技术日益成 熟，将促进更多的应用从桌面延伸到 Web，这将赋予本就十分强大的 Web 更加丰富的功能！"


    于涛，腾讯技术总监、 Alloyteam 负责 人

  Xiaomi

     " WebAssembly 的标准化为 Web 技术的发展奠定了坚实 的基础，极大地扩展了 Web
     应用的边界，解决了传统应用的可移植性问题， 提升了 Web 应用性能。 作为 W3C 会员，小米将继续支持和探索
     WebAssembly 标准的落地应用，包括在浏览器、小游戏等重要场景支持 WebAssembly
     。未来小米将持续在业务场景中进一步支持 WebAssembly 的 标准化发展。"


    周珏嘉，小米集团技术委员会技术总 监
     __________________________________________________________

   [25]Translations | [26]W3C Press Release Archive

     [25] 
https://www.w3.org/Press/Releases-2019#wasm-rec

     [26] 
https://www.w3.org/Press/

Received on Thursday, 5 December 2019 14:16:02 UTC