WebAssembly vs asm.js

Developers should learn WebAssembly when building performance-critical web applications, such as games, video editing tools, or scientific simulations, where JavaScript may be too slow meets developers should learn asm. Here's our take.

WebAssembly

Nice Pick

Developers should learn WebAssembly when building performance-critical web applications, such as games, video editing tools, or scientific simulations, where JavaScript may be too slow

Pros

• It's also useful for porting existing codebases from languages like C++ to the web without rewriting them in JavaScript
• Related to: javascript, rust

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

asm.js

Developers should learn asm

Pros

• js when they need to port existing C/C++ codebases to the web while maintaining high performance, as it provides a straightforward compilation path with minimal overhead
• Related to: javascript, webassembly

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

The Verdict

These tools serve different purposes. WebAssembly is a platform while asm.js is a language. We picked WebAssembly based on overall popularity, but your choice depends on what you're building.

The Bottom Line

WebAssembly wins

Based on overall popularity. WebAssembly is more widely used, but asm.js excels in its own space.