Bits and Bytes with Mozilla & the Bytecode Alliance

We're closing out 2019 with the same folks who kicked us off in January! We'll be learning all about the the new Bytecode Alliance, a new initiative to to create a capable, secure platform for running untrusted using our favorite tech WebAssembly and WASI (and more!) Special thanks to Mozilla and the Bytecode Alliance for sponsoring the eats and Microsoft for providing space at their SF Reactor. Please note our Code Of Conduct: http://bit.ly/wasmsfcoc.

The Meetup will be recorded and videos will be linked here after the event.

Agenda:

6:00pm - Doors open and sign in with security (NDA may be required)
6:30-7 - Evolving WASI with code generation, Pat Hickey
7:10-7:40 - WebAssembly & Build Systems, Josh Triplett
7:50-8:20 - WebAssembly nanoprocesses: making WebAssembly outside-the-browser secure by default, Lin Clark

About the talks:

Evolving WASI with code generation

We will discuss the evolution underway in WASI from being specified in a C header file, into a standard that can be used across many different languages, and takes advantage of new WebAssembly proposals. Powering this evolution is witx, an interface description language designed to fit into the WebAssembly universe. Bytecode alliance members have built a set of tools which use witx to keep WASI software working as the underlying system interfaces evolve.

WebAssembly nanoprocesses: making WebAssembly outside-the-browser secure by default

In early November, we announced the formation of the Bytecode Alliance, a new industry partnership working on WebAssembly outside the browser. We have a vision of a WebAssembly ecosystem that is secure by default, fixing cracks in today’s software foundations. And based on advances rapidly emerging in the WebAssembly community, we believe we can make this vision real.

I'll talk about one of these advances—an emerging pattern of usage that we've started calling a WebAssembly nanoprocess, which give you most of the benefits of a process, but with much less overhead and much faster communication. With this, we think we can make massively-modular code reuse—like you see in npm, crates, and PyPI—secure by default.

Remaining talks TBA

About the speakers:

Pat Hickey is a principal software engineer and tech lead of the Lucet project at Fastly. Previously, he worked on operating systems and compilers for safety-critical systems.

Lin Clark makes code cartoons and is part of Mozilla’s Emerging Technologies Group, where she works with the WebAssembly and Rust teams. Her current project is making it easy to use WebAssembly with today’s JavaScript tools, including npm and bundlers.