C++ WebAssembly

Introduction to WebAssembly

WebAssembly (WASM) is a binary instruction format for a stack-based virtual machine, designed to be a portable compilation target for programming languages like C++ and Rust. It enables high-performance applications on web pages. This tutorial will guide you through compiling C++ code to WebAssembly using Emscripten.

Setting Up Your Environment

To start compiling C++ code to WebAssembly, you'll need to set up your development environment. This involves installing Emscripten, a complete compiler toolchain that can translate C++ into WebAssembly.

• Install Emscripten: Follow the official installation guide to install Emscripten on your system.
• Verify Installation: After installation, run emcc -v in your terminal to check the Emscripten version and verify the installation.

Writing a Simple C++ Program

Let's start by writing a simple C++ program that we will compile to WebAssembly. Create a file named hello.cpp with the following content:

Compiling C++ to WebAssembly

With your C++ program ready, you can now compile it to WebAssembly using Emscripten. Use the following command in your terminal:

This command will produce three files: hello.html, hello.js, and hello.wasm. The .wasm file contains the WebAssembly binary, while the .html and .js files help load the WebAssembly module in a web environment.

Running Your WebAssembly Module

To run the WebAssembly module, you need a local server to serve the files. Use Python's built-in HTTP server to start a local server:

Once the server is running, open http://localhost:8000/hello.html in your web browser. You should see the output "Hello, WebAssembly!" displayed on the page.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, you learned how to compile a simple C++ program to WebAssembly using Emscripten and run it in a web environment. This process allows you to leverage C++'s performance capabilities in web applications. Continue exploring WebAssembly for more complex applications and integrate them with JavaScript for enhanced web functionalities.