Native Client in Chrome Beta

[Marco Leise]

Am 19.08.2011, 04:45 Uhr, schrieb maarten van damme  
<maartenvd1994 at gmail.com>:

> wow, would be great to have bindings to the pepper api from d.
> one of the reasons I still use java is for its ability to compile to very
> fast javascript (using gwt).
> If d is able to do this I can finally leave java behind.
> Beeing able to compile to a web app could also add a bit to d's  
> popularity
> :)

Just to clarify: NativeClient is not about compiling <any language> to  
JavaScript or replacing JavaScript. Your website would provide  
architecture-dependent, but OS-independent executables that link to a C or  
C++ API in the browser. But essentially you'll probably get what you want  
 from it.

The opinions on NativeClient are mixed. They range from security concerns  
over people thinking it is a bad idea to turn the browser into an OS to  
game developers or researchers writing games or simulations who'd love to  
see this happen.

To cite a few web blogs:

"Mozilla vice president of products Jay Sullivan says that unlike Google,  
the open source outfit has no intention of bundling Firefox with Adobe  
Flash —– or with a plug-in that runs native code inside the browser.  
Mozilla, Sullivan says, believes that the future of online applications  
lies with web standards, including HTML5."

"Opera chief standards officer Charles McCathieNevile argued that Google's  
Native Client plug-in — a means of running native code inside the  
company's Chrome browser — isn't viable as a long-term browser technology.  
It's worth experimenting with, he said, but it runs counter to what he  
sees as the web's mission. JavaScript performance is improving at an  
impressive clip, he added, and any speed improvements you may get from  
native code aren't worth the complications it brings."

"By not adopting a technology capable of competing with native apps on  
iOS, Android, Windows, and Mac, web vendors are preventing important  
classes of applications such as high-end games and simulations from moving  
to the open web."

"The natural comparison is to Microsoft's ActiveX technology -- and to  
critics, it's not a flattering one. ActiveX controls allow developers to  
extend the capabilities of Internet Explorer by creating components that  
can access native Windows functions. But because ActiveX's security model  
is largely based on trust, users can easily be tricked into installing  
components that compromise system security."