Limit the Scope to Expand the Future

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WebAssembly is initially designed as a specialized tool for efficient number crunching, allowing for clearer agreements and easier progress in specification development. This focused approach helps navigate the complexities of consensus, as an all-inclusive design might hinder advancement due to diverse conflicting interests. WebAssembly expands web capabilities by enabling the use of multiple programming languages beyond just JavaScript, aligning web development more closely with practices in other platforms like iOS and Android. Additionally, its application extends beyond the web to server-side environments, highlighting its growing significance in cloud technologies through standards like Wazi.

The Google Sheets calculation engine was originally written in Java and launched in 2006. In the early days of the product, all calculation happened on the server. However, starting in 2013 the engine has run in the browser using JavaScript.

Google Sheets is now one of the first products at Google to use WebAssembly Garbage Collection, or WasmGC, on Chrome.

Michael Thomas is the Multiplatform Lead for Google Workspace and Thomas Steiner is a Developer Relations Engineer at Google. They join the podcast to tell the story of why and how Google Sheets ported its calculation worker from JavaScript to WasmGC.

Sean’s been an academic, startup founder, and Googler. He has published works covering a wide range of topics from information visualization to quantum computing. Currently, Sean is Head of Marketing and Developer Relations at Skyflow and host of the podcast Partially Redacted, a podcast about privacy and security engineering. You can connect with Sean on Twitter @seanfalconer.