Apple, Google, Microsoft and Mozilla to Collaborate on Web Standard

Apple, Google, Microsoft and Mozilla are working together on a web standard to compile code on the web. WebAssembly makes sites load faster. Developers can initially write code in C and C++.

Mozilla developers, Apple’s Webkit, Microsoft’s Edge browser and Chromium are collaborating on WebAssembly, Mozilla said. This means that the initiative has the largest browser builders behind it. Together, the browsers from Mozilla, Microsoft, Google and Apple account for the lion’s share of the browser market, assuming that support for WebAssembly will be in all of the companies’ browsers.

WebAssembly is a method of compiling code on the web via bytecode. The companies will also design the potential future standard with a browser for mobile and the Internet-of-things in mind, according to the stated goals. WebAssembly has similarities with the current asm.js. The companies claim they do not want to replace javascript.

The engineers are not too far with the development of WebAssembly. When it will be ready and will be in browsers is still unclear.