2.1 KiB
AssemblyScript NEXT
AssemblyScript is a new compiler targeting WebAssembly while utilizing TypeScript's syntax and node's vibrant ecosystem. Instead of requiring complex toolchains to set up, you can simply npm install it - or run it in a browser.
By compiling syntactially (not necessarily semantically) valid TypeScript to Binaryen IR, the resulting module can be validated, optimized, emitted in WebAssembly text or binary format and converted to asm.js as a polyfill.
Note, though, that this version of the compiler (0.5.0, NEXT) is relatively new and does not yet support some features a TypeScript programmer might expect, e.g., strings, arrays and classes.
See the AssemblyScript wiki for additional information and documentation.
Examples
A few early examples to get an idea:
- Conway's Game of Life as seen on dcode.io
- i64 polyfill using 32-bit integers
Getting started
If you'd like to try it today or even plan to contribute, this is how you do it:
$> git clone https://github.com/AssemblyScript/next.git
$> cd next
$> npm install
Author your module using either
- the assembly definitions (base config) if all you care about is targeting WebAssembly/asm.js or
- the portable definitions (base config) if you also want to compile to JavaScript using
tsc
and run:
$> node bin/asc yourModule.ts
Building
Building an UMD bundle to dist/assemblyscript.js (does not bundle binaryen.js):
$> npm run build
Running the tests:
$> npm test