Python in Web Assembly with Pyodide

Episode #212, published Fri, May 17, 2019, recorded Tue, Apr 23, 2019

It's been said that JavaScript is the assembly language of the web. But should you be required to write code in assembly language or JavaScript?

Most platforms have a dizzying array of options for programming them. But not the frontend web world. But that tide may be turning and WebAssembly could be the key to making it happen.

With WebAssembly, we have a new compilation target for web browsers. And Michael Droettboom from Mozilla and team have decided to help bring the Python scientific stack to the frontend world with Pyodide.

Links from the show

Article introducing pyodide: hacks.mozilla.org
pyodide: github.com
pyodide demo: alpha.iodide.io
Dan Callahan call to action around WebAssembly: youtube.com
Lean Data Practices: mozilla.org
WASM could preempt Docker: twitter.com
Can I Use WebAssembly?: caniuse.com
Episode transcripts: talkpython.fm

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Michael Droettboom

Michael Droettboom is a Data Engineer at Mozilla, using data to improve the web while respecting the privacy of its users. He has built software tools to support many other disciplines, including the computational humanities, astronomy and medicine. He is a former lead developer of matplotlib and the original author of airspeed velocity.

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