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I wish to write a npm module for node.js, using Rust. After some quick research, I found two ways to do it:
What are the technical differences of using one or the other?
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WebAssembly is a high-performance assembly-like language that can be compiled from a myriad of languages including C/C++, Rust, and AssemblyScript. As of right now, it is supported by Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, and Node. js!
js), Rust responded to requests nearly 100x faster on average than Node. js. This level of lightweight, high throughput performance is essential for something like a logging agent.
In one recent study, a developer discovered Wasm is faster than JavaScript across three desktop browsers on desktop computers and smartphones. Wasm is 1.15-1.67 times faster than JavaScript on Google Chrome on a desktop. Wasm is 1.95-11.71 times faster than JavaScript on Firefox on a desktop.
To begin with, WebAssembly is more compact than JavaScript source code, making it faster to fetch from the server. Then WebAssembly doesn't need parsing; it's already compiled down to virtual instructions which only need decoding like in actual hardware.
Neon provides bindings, making it easy to write native node modules in Rust. Native node modules, as the name implies, are compiled to native code (typically on installation).
Wasm (WebAssembly) is a new runtime for the browser, and node, that is designed to be a fast and efficient compilation target for a wider range of languages. It is executed alongside the JavaScript runtime, sharing threads / memory. Rust has very good WebAssembly support and bindings.
So the main difference is Neon compiles to native, while with wasm you are compiling to a new runtime (that has near native performance).
WebAssembly potentially reduces some of the friction involved in using native node modules.
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