WebAssembly: The Future of High-Performance Web Apps

For years, JavaScript has been the undisputed king of the web. However, for performance-critical applications like 3D gaming, video editing, and scientific simulations, JavaScript's performance limitations can be a bottleneck. Enter WebAssembly (Wasm). Wasm is a low-level, binary instruction format that runs in modern web browsers. It's designed as a portable compilation target for high-level languages like C++, Rust, and Go, allowing developers to run code on the web at near-native speeds. This article demystifies WebAssembly, explaining what it is, why it was created, and how it works alongside JavaScript. We'll look at real-world use cases, from Figma's rendering engine to AutoCAD's web version, and provide a beginner-friendly guide to compiling your first Rust program into Wasm and running it in the browser.