WebAssembly Browser Preview

Today we’re happy to announce, in tandem with Firefox and Edge, a WebAssembly Browser Preview. WebAssembly or wasm is a new runtime and compilation target for the web, designed by collaborators from Google, Mozilla, Microsoft, Apple, and the W3C WebAssembly Community Group.

What does this milestone mark?

This milestone is significant because it marks:

• a release candidate for our MVP (minimum viable product) design (including semantics, binary format, and JS API)
• compatible and stable implementations of WebAssembly behind a flag on trunk in V8 and SpiderMonkey, in development builds of Chakra, and in progress in JavaScriptCore
• a working toolchain for developers to compile WebAssembly modules from C/C++ source files
• a roadmap to ship WebAssembly on-by-default barring changes based on community feedback 

You can read more about WebAssembly on the project site as well as follow our developers guide to test out WebAssembly compilation from C & C++ using Emscripten. The binary format and JS API documents outline the binary encoding of WebAssembly and the mechanism to instantiate WebAssembly modules in the browser, respectively. Here’s a quick sample to show what wasm looks like:

Raw Bytes	Text Format	C Source
02 40 03 40 20 00 45 0d 01	block  loop    get_local 0    i32.eqz    br_if 1	while (x != 0) {
20 00 21 02	get_local 0    set_local 2	z = x;
20 01 20 00 6f 21 00	get_local 1    get_local 0    i32.rem_s    set_local 0	x = y % x;
20 02 21 01	get_local 2    set_local 1	y = z;
0c 00 0b 0b	br 0  end   end	}
20 01	get_local 1	return y;

Greatest Common Divisor function

Since WebAssembly is still behind a flag in Chrome (chrome://flags/#enable-webassembly), it is not yet recommended for production use. However, the Browser Preview period marks a time during which we are actively collecting feedback on the design and implementation of the spec. Developers are encouraged to test out compiling and porting applications and running them in the browser.

V8 continues to optimize the implementation of WebAssembly in the TurboFan compiler. Since last March when we first announced experimental support, we’ve added support for parallel compilation. In addition, we’re nearing completion of an alternate asm.js pipeline, which converts asm.js to WebAssembly under the hood so that existing asm.js sites can reap some of the benefits of WebAssembly ahead-of-time compilation.

What's next?

Barring major design changes arising from community feedback, the WebAssembly Community Group plans to produce an official specification in Q1 2017, at which point browsers will be encouraged to ship WebAssembly on-by-default. From that point forward, the binary format will be reset to version 1 and WebAssembly will be versionless, feature-tested, and backwards-compatible. A more detailed roadmap can be found on the WebAssembly project site.

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World Top 10 September 2016

Tesla's Cult followers pushed  their cars to the Top Spots

Models - 1-2 Win For Tesla

The global EV market continues to grow at rapid pace, with some 77.000 units delivered in September (Second best month ever, only behind the 86k of last December), representing a 54% growth YoY, with YTD sales now at 515k, we are headed for a total sales number of around 800.000 units.

In the models ranking, the Best Seller of the Month for the fourth time in a row was the Tesla Model S, with 7.910 deliveries, only 100 less than the absolute record, recorded by the same Model S last December, so as predicted last month, the Tesla Model S displaced the Nissan Leaf from the Models leadership in the Second Half of the Year, like it did last year.

Looking at the rest of the YTD ranking, the #3 BYD Tang sales are down for the third consecutive month (Softening demand?), while the Fourth Place of the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV (Sales down 50% YoY) is in serious danger, with a real chance to end 2016 in Seventh. 

The Renault Zoe is also most certainly sure to lose the #8 soon, to the current sensation, the Tesla Model X, which ended September in Second with a record 5.484 deliveries, securing a 1-2 win for the Palo Alto company, while jumping to #9 in the YTD ranking.  

Besides the aforementioned Tesla, two other models have beaten their own sales record, with the BMW i3 scoring 3.515 units, while the BAIC E-Series has beaten a 21 months-old record (An eternity in China), with 2.659 units.

Looking outside the Top 10, there was another BAIC pulling out a brilliant performance, with the EU260 sedan scoring 3.800 units, a personal best for any model of Beijing Auto, that allowed it to surge to Third in September. Will it be a future sighting in this ranking?

Pl	WORLD	Sept.	YTD	%	'15Pl
1	Tesla Model S	7.910	38.282	7	1
2	Nissan Leaf	3.503	38.042	7	2
3	BYD Tang	2.120	26.788	5	8
4 5 6	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV Chevrolet Volt BYD Qin	2.397 2.501 3.125	20.001 18.931 18.391	4 4 4	3 9 4
7	BMW i3	3.515	18.251	4	5
8	Renault Zoe	1.992	15.979	3	7
9	Tesla Model X	5.484	15.813	3	68
10	BAIC E-Series EV	2.659	15.457	3	11
	TOTAL	76.876	515.035

Manufacturers -  Tesla & the Three B's

No, it's not a new R&B project, the title is the short story about what happened last month, with Tesla breaking records with a superlative 13.394 deliveries, followed by three brands that start with the letter "B": BYD, BAIC and BMW, their performances had different meanings for all three brands:

- BYD continues to be the Master In Command in the YTD ranking, but the Second Place in September, with 10.261 units, is somewhat disappointing, as this is the fourth consecutive month where the automaker scores 10.000-something results. Production bottlenecks? Waning demand?

-  The 7.062 units of  Beijing Auto (BAIC), came as (Good) surprise, with a 73% improvement over the previous month, allowing it to jump to Third in September and climb to #5 YTD. There are reports that BAIC electric models are quite popular in Beijing, so we could see it improve even further in the future.  

- As for BMW, the record 7.050 units (Beating the 6.030 of last December) were expected, currently the Bavarian automaker benefits from a strong (And extensive) lineup, with four(!) out its seven models scoring record performances in September. Now, the #3 Nissan is only an arms length of reach, when it passes the Japanese automaker, then BMW will become the best selling legacy OEM. Who would of thought, eh?

An interesting fact is that the September podium was composed by three outsiders: Tesla (First), BYD (Second) and BAIC (Third). Something to consider for the established OEM's...

With Chevrolet finally selling at decent levels, the American car maker is now in Eighth Place, while Renault is waiting for the 40 kWh version of the Zoe to be back in the game. 

The #10 Ford is keeping the #11 SAIC Roewe at safe distance, so for the time being it looks that it will keep the last place of the ranking all to itself.

Pl	WORLD	Sept.	YTD	%	'15Pl
1	BYD	10.261	74.039	14	1
2	Tesla	13.394	54.033	11	2
3	Nissan	3.828	41.139	8	4
4	BMW	7.050	40.449	8	6
5 6 7	BAIC Volkswagen Mitsubishi	7.062 3.614 2.875	29.644 26.280 23.560	6 5 5	12 5 3
8	Chevrolet	2.816	21.719	4	11
9	Renault	2.620	21.457	4	8
10	Ford	2.477	18.084	4	10

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