PlatON Tips #19 | WebAssembly-Wasm

Welcome to PlatON Tips-Episode 19

We are going to talk about the WebAssembly-Wasm

Preface

WASM (WebAssembly) is not a language, but a new bytecode format, a brand-new underlying binary grammar, and instruction code compiled by the compiler. Small in size, portable, fast in loading, and compatible with the latest format of the Web, WASM is a new technology to run portable programs safely and effectively. This article analyzes the introduction, advantages, operation mechanism and use of the PlatON WASM contract in detail.

Introduction of WASM

WASM was mainly applied on the Web in the early days. As it continues to develop, it is used as the final format of smart contracts by increasing projects, and runs with the corresponding VM loaded, such as wavm and wagon. Bytecodes are parsed and operate in the core virtual machine module.

The virtual machine (VM) refers to a complete computer system that is simulated by software, has functions of a complete hardware system and runs in an isolated environment, such as the Vmware virtual machine for operating system virtualization and the JVM virtual machine for the software operating environment. The virtual machine in the blockchain is a code operating environment built on the blockchain, mainly to process the smart contracts of the blockchain.

Why does PlatON introduce the WASM virtual machine as a supplement to the EVM?

As the demand for virtual machines and smart contracts in blockchain applications grows, the blockchain virtual machine technology is being improved as time goes by. At present, WASM-based virtual machines have been significantly improved in terms of speed and performance, and support multiple high-level development languages such as C, C++, Rust, and Golang, lowering the development threshold.

To facilitate the development of blockchain applications, PlatON has launched a dual virtual machine engine that supports the WASM virtual machine and the EVM at the same time. Blockchain applications that originally run on public chains that support EVM, such as Ethereum, can migrate easily and seamlessly if they need to use PlatON due to performance and other reasons.

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