CLcLeEOGPw·Dec 5, 2013
> You wanna port all that to JS? Go right ahead!
It is already done. https://github.com/kripken/emscripten/wiki
In Why you should use OpenGL and not DirectXemscripten-core
emscripten
C++2011–2026
emscripten-core / emscripten
emscripten
Emscripten: An LLVM-to-WebAssembly Compiler
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148Mentions
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What it is
Emscripten: An LLVM-to-WebAssembly Compiler
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Also in these discussions
- jashkenas/coffeescript · linked in 2 of the same discussions
- jupyterlite/jupyterlite · linked in 2 of the same discussions
- webassembly/binaryen · linked in 2 of the same discussions
Mentioned in the same Hacker News threads. That is not proof they are substitutes.
This week on Hacker News
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No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.
Mentions over time
HN mentions by year148 dated mentions
Observed mentions: 2011-04-16 12:05:53 UTC to 2026-06-13 18:10:02 UTC.
* An incomplete calendar period is marked with an outlined bar. Its count is not directly comparable with a full period.
Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.
View mention counts and date ranges
| Period | Start (UTC) | End (exclusive, UTC) | Mentions | Submissions | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 2011-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2012-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 13 | 3 | 10 |
| 2012 | 2012-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2013-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 20 | 4 | 16 |
| 2013 | 2013-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2014-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 21 | 0 | 21 |
| 2014 | 2014-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 13 | 1 | 12 |
| 2015 | 2015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 16 | 2 | 14 |
| 2016 | 2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 10 | 1 | 9 |
| 2017 | 2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 17 | 1 | 16 |
| 2018 | 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2019 | 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 2020 | 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 4 | 1 | 3 |
| 2021 | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 6 | 1 | 5 |
| 2022 | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 2023 | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 2024 | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| 2025 | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 9 | 0 | 9 |
| 2026 (partial) | 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2027-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 3 | 0 | 3 |
What Hacker News says
21 sources> It is also represented in text, which means that it is several times larger than it needs to be.
According to the emscripten FAQ[1], gzipped emscriptem output (which uses asm.js) is about the same size as gzipped native code.
[1] https://github.com/kripken/emscripten/wiki/FAQ
In On Asm.jsThat doesn't work with Emscriptem though because web workers don't support shared state. [1]
If they manage to move FFMPEG encoding into multiple web workers I'd love to read their writeup though!
[1] https://github.com/kripken/emscripten/issues/953
In Process videos in browser using FFmpeg compiled to JavaScript> And JS has some incredible flexibility, with CoffeeScript (CS after) you can even get a more terse syntax similar to ruby/python.
CoffeeScript isn't JS, its a different language that compiles to JS. So what CS can do doesn't say anything about JS as a development language.
> You will not be able to use Ruby or C++ in client-side browser code any time soon.
You can use C++ in client-side browser code now -- sure, you compile it to JS, just as you compile it to native binaries to run on the server side, but the development language can be C++. [1]
[1] https://github.com/kripken/emscripten/wiki
In For modern development, Javascript is just something you need to learnIt's already built from two open source projects: PCE[0] and Emscripten[1]. It patches Emscripten a little, and PCE a lot, so I'll need to separate those patches out and add them into the build process. Basically the code is not really in much of a state for other people to hack on just yet. However, for GPL compliance with PCE, a dump of the source is available[2].
[0] http://www.hampa.ch/pce/
[1] https://github.com/kripken/emscripten
[2] http://jamesfriend.com.au/pce-js/pcejs20131028.zip
In Run Mac OS System 7 in your browserDoes this mean, that we're able to translate python into javascript with emscripten or is there additional work to do? (https://github.com/kripken/emscripten/wiki)
Edit: Furthermore, how practical is this?
In LLVM PythonWell, that and Emscripten[1], which is the tool Mozilla used to bring Unreal Engine 3 into the web[2].
Note taht Emscripten is actually entitled An LLVM-to-JavaScript Compiler
[1] https://github.com/kripken/emscripten
[2] https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2013/03/27/mozilla-is-unlockin...
In RedScript – like CoffeeScript, in RubyIn general a JavaScript-based Linux virtual machine should allow you to run software that would otherwise be difficult or impossible to run in the browser (which right now can be done for a lot of software by compiling it to JavaScript with https://github.com/kripken/emscripten). Data could be transferred to the VM for processing and then back to "normal" JavaScript using serial I/O. This might prove a useful kludge.
For a simple example of where it could be used consider a webmail provider who wants to get GPG encryption into their web UI. The provider could embed a Linux VM in the HTML document to let the user do encryption with the well-examined native version of GPG. (Although native GPG running inside this VM would not be safe from, e.g., malicious JS in banner ads.)
Right now the emulation is too slow to do these kinds of things
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practically, however, and it's hard to say whether or not it will get sufficiently fast before other tools for running native software the browser fully mature.
Not sure if this is relevant these days, but the Emscripten FAQ mentions the need to use "-s ASM_JS=1" as an argument to emcc in order for it to actually output asm.js style code. See "Q. How fast will the compiled code be?" from: https://github.com/kripken/emscripten/wiki/FAQ
In Staring at the Sun: Dalvik vs. Asm.js vs. Native> That being said, I would very much welcome a high-performance alternative to Javascript that also runs in any browser -- something in the spirit of C or Java, which could be embedded in Javascript and vice versa.
Possible steps in that direction:
- Google Native Client: run native code in a sandbox [1]
- asm.js: A strict subset of JavaScript that can be optimized to native or near-native speed [2]
I much prefer the asm.js approach. I agree that there's a need for NaCl, but if we look at the browser as a sandboxed virtual machine that everyone has, we should all agree on a bytecode specification for that virtual machine. We pick JavaScript "because it is there". Once all browsers speak native asm.js, then you can compile your client-side code in whatever language you want, even C/C++ (see Emscripten for example). [3][4]
[1] https://de
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You seem to misunderstand how Mozilla works. Of course non-Mozilla devs can contribute code and new features that haven't been specifically ordered by a "centralized, limited-access organization". This happens all the time. Add to that the fact that every repository is public, that commits are visible in real-time rather than through opaque code-drops, and you get a project that's as open as it goes.
I won't discuss the openness of JavaScript vs. that of other languages, since this doesn't seem to be the purpose of your message. Yes, JavaScript is the only way to get code executed on FirefoxOS. However, considerable steps are being taken by both Mozilla and third-parties to ensure that this does not limit (too much) your choices. These days, dozens of languages can be compiled to JavaScript, directly [1] or indirectly [2], including C, C+
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+, Objective-C, Java, C# or Python. That doesn't mean that all your applications can be ported immediately to FirefoxOS, as you'll need some library support that may or may not be available for the platform, but it's hardly limiting.
As for your "academic fantasy" paragraph, well, let's just politely ignore that trollbait.
Caveat: I'm a Mozillian.
[1] https://github.com/jashkenas/coffee-script/wiki/List-of-lang...
[2] https://github.com/kripken/emscripten/wiki
Regarding Emscripten bootstrapping: https://github.com/kripken/emscripten/issues/430
In Show HN: CoderPad, an etherpad + REPL for coding interviewsIt looks like everything is evaluated client-side (even the Java), so I believe you'd need a C++ implementation in JS ...
As far as I know, things like Emscripten (https://github.com/kripken/emscripten/wiki) can compile C/C++ to JS, but the compilation itself doesn't happen in JS.
In Show HN: CoderPad, an etherpad + REPL for coding interviewsLooks like work has started on using emscripten with Objective-C code:
https://github.com/kripken/emscripten/pull/1162/files
Still, a long way to go.
In Try Objective-CHere is a list of everything available in case anyone might find that more convenient:
Languages:
- C
- C++
- C++ (Firefox)
- Java
- JavaScript
- PHP
- Python
- Rust
C
So you think OOP is for hipsters?
That's cool, we all get nostalgic sometimes. You could work on:
- NSS: The network security pieces of Firefox
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Getting_Started_With_NSS
C++
So you like long compile times and incomprehensible error messages?
That's cool, we do too. You could work on:
- Gecko: The engine that drives Firefox
See: C++ (Firefox)
- Boot2Gecko: The operating system for Android phones built on web technologies
https://wiki.mozilla.org/B2G/Hacking
- Thunderbird: The open source email client
http://developer.mozilla.org/En/Simple_Thunderbird_build
- Seamonkey: The open s
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ource web productivity suite
http://www.seamonkey-project.org
- v8monkey: Implementing the v8 API on top of Spidermonkey
http://github.com/zpao/v8monkey
- emscripten: Creating a LLVM-to-JS system to allow porting native code to the web
https://github.com/kripken/emscripten/
- SVG Project: Help with the implementation and testing of Mozilla's
Scalable Vector Graphics engine (https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/SVG)
https://wiki.mozilla.org/SVG:Contribute
- Windows 8 Integration: The Metro-style enabled desktop browser for Windows 8
https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox/Windows_8_Integration
See 3.3 Platform Integration Windows 8 Development
- MathML: Display and represent math formulas on the web
https://wiki.mozilla.org/MathML:Home_Page
C++ (Firefox)
That's cool, but not very specific. You could work on:
- General Firefox work: I don't really care about the details
http://developer.mozilla.org/En/Introduction
- Graphics: Lots of work with OpenGL, DirectX, and Skia making things draw quickly
https://wiki.mozilla.org/Platform/GFX/Contribute
- Accessibility:
Make the web more accessible for users using
assistive technologies (eg. screenreaders)
https://wiki.mozilla.org/Accessibility/Contribute
- Networking: Tcp, http, ssl/tls, spdy, and more
http://wiki.mozilla.org/Networking
- Spidermonkey:
The JavaScript engine: if you like compilers, interpreters, JITs, and more
https://wiki.mozilla.org/JavaScript:New_to_SpiderMonkey
JavaScript
So you're a dynamic individual who thinks that, underneath,
everything is an object? That's cool, we like to dream as well.
You could work on:
- Firefox: Did you know that all of the UI is written in JS?
See: JavaScript (Firefox)
- Mobile Firefox:
It's the Gecko engine, with an Android-specific UI. No Android device required.
https://wiki.mozilla.org/Mobile/Get_Involved
- pdf.js: A PDF viewer written entirely in JavaScript
https://wiki.mozilla.org/PDF.js
- Shumway: a Flash player written entirely in JavaScript
https://github.com/mozilla/shumway/wiki
- The addon SDK: The foundation upon which all new kick-ass addons are built
https://wiki.mozilla.org/Jetpack
- Gaia: the default UI for the web-based mobile operating system Boot2Gecko
https://wiki.mozilla.org/Gaia
- DXR: The intelligent source code indexing system
http://github.com/mozilla/dxr
- Thunderbird: The open source email client
http://developer.mozilla.org/En/Simple_Thunderbird_build
- Seamonkey: The open source web productivity suite
http://www.seamonkey-project.org
- Web development: We have many large, complicated projects that use JavaScript
https://blog.mozilla.com/webdev/get-involved/
- Popcorn: Create interactive media pages that seamlessly integrate video,
audio, and traditional web technologies
http://www.benmoskowitz.com/?p=527
- Windows 8 Integration:
The front end for the Metro-style enabled desktop browser for Windows 8
https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox/Windows_8_Integration
See 3.2 Front End Windows 8 Development
- Persona: Implement a new way to safely and easily sign into websites
https://wiki.mozilla.org/Persona
JavaScript (Firefox)
Good choice - there are a lot of different areas if you'd like to specialize.
You could work on:
- Firefox in general - I don't really care:
http://developer.mozilla.org/En/Introduction
- Developer tools:
Implement a suite of tools similar to Firebug directly in the browser
https://wiki.mozilla.org/DevTools/GetInvolved
- Sync: Help users take their personal browsing data on the road
https://wiki.mozilla.org/Services/Sync#Get_Involved
Java
So you're a believer in AbstractMethodFactoryBeans?
That's cool, we all have our vices. You could work on:
- Mobile Firefox:
It's the Gecko engine, with an Android-specific UI. No Android device required.
https://wiki.mozilla.org/Mobile/Get_Involved
- Rhino: It's Spidermonkey in Java. Is this actually still a thing?
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Rhino
PHP
So you like your variable names to include dollar signs?
That's cool, everyone misses Perl once in a while. You can work on:
- WordPress: The code that runs our blogs (http://blog.mozilla.org)
https://wiki.mozilla.org/Webdev/GetInvolved/WordPress
- Marketplace: The PHP client for Marketplace (https://marketplace.firefox.com)
https://github.com/mozilla/Marketplace.PHP
- The Mediawiki-Bugzilla plugin:
The Bugzilla plugin for Mozilla's MediaWiki https://wiki.mozilla.org
https://github.com/mozilla/mediawiki-bugzilla
Python
So you enjoy the paradigm of backtrace-driven development?
That's cool, everyone gets a bit tired of static typing once in a while.
You can work on:
- Firefox: Lots of code is generated by python scripts
http://developer.mozilla.org/En/Introduction
- Web development: We have many large, complicated projects written in Python
https://blog.mozilla.com/webdev/get-involved/
- DXR: The intelligent source code indexing system
http://github.com/mozilla/dxr
- Tools & Automation:
Various projects to facilitate easier automated testing of products
https://wiki.mozilla.org/Auto-tools/New_Contributor
Rust
The new systems programming language created by Mozilla.
- Rust: http://www.rust-lang.org
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