Google finally raises the curtain on the programming platform it hopes will get complex code -- such as the kind that powers gaming engines -- onto the Web. But PNaCl with a glitch -- controversy. November 12, 2013 10:17 AM PST A PNaCl demo, Bullet Physics, shows how C and C++ can be ported to the Web using Google's new compiling platform. (Credit: Google) More than three years after it was introduced in a white paper, Google's Portable Native Client, or PNaCl, launched for developers on Tuesday. Pronounced "pinnacle," PNaCl works by allowing developers to compile C and C++ software to Web apps. Potentially, it could be a huge boon for developers who want to get their audio and video decompression software, image editing tools, or the complex engines that power video games by simplifying the "translation" from native code to the Web. Related stories: Blink leaders reject animated WebP images in Chrome, for now Twice in two weeks: Another Web app for processing raw photos Chrome starts staking out mobile-browsing turf Mozilla coder: Chrome violates Google's own Blink principles Netflix adds new plan for password sharers In its blog post announcing that PNaCl is ready, Google summarized the technical aspects of PNaCl. Under the hood, PNaCl works by compiling native C and C++ code to an intermediate representation, rather than architecture-specific representations as in Native Client. The LLVM-style bytecode is wrapped into a portable executable, which can be hosted on a web server like any other website asset. When the site is accessed, Chrome fetches and translates the portable executable into an architecture-specific machine code optimized directly for the underlying device. This translation approach means developers don't need to recompile their applications multiple times to run across x86, ARM or MIPS devices. However, despite its public debut, PNaCl still faces a difficult road ahead. PNaCl, its predecessor Native Client (NaCl), and Pepper, the group of APIs that let PNaCl talk to the browser, only work in Google Chrome. There don't appear to be plans at the moment to integrate them into other browsers at the moment, with Mozilla publicly critical of PNaCl for violating Google's principles of adhering to open and accepted Web standards in Blink, Chrome's rendering engine. "Unfortunately it appears Blink's principles only apply to Blink, not Chrome as a whole," wrote Mozilla programmer Robert O'Callahan. Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the adoption challenges facing PNaCl. There are legitimate concerns that supporting several programming foundations at once could lead to a Web that's harder to develop for. The critics claim that coding for PNaCl will lead to a fractured Web sounds not unlike the way that Web developers had to code specifically for Internet Explorer a decade ago.
Google finally raises the curtain on the programming platform it hopes will get complex code -- such as the kind that powers gaming engines -- onto the Web. But PNaCl with a glitch -- controversy.
A PNaCl demo, Bullet Physics, shows how C and C++ can be ported to the Web using Google's new compiling platform.
(Credit: Google)
More than three years after it was introduced in a white paper, Google's Portable Native Client, or PNaCl, launched for developers on Tuesday.
Pronounced "pinnacle," PNaCl works by allowing developers to compile C and C++ software to Web apps. Potentially, it could be a huge boon for developers who want to get their audio and video decompression software, image editing tools, or the complex engines that power video games by simplifying the "translation" from native code to the Web.
Related stories:
- Blink leaders reject animated WebP images in Chrome, for now
- Twice in two weeks: Another Web app for processing raw photos
- Chrome starts staking out mobile-browsing turf
- Mozilla coder: Chrome violates Google's own Blink principles
- Netflix adds new plan for password sharers
In its blog post announcing that PNaCl is ready, Google summarized the technical aspects of PNaCl.
Under the hood, PNaCl works by compiling native C and C++ code to an intermediate representation, rather than architecture-specific representations as in Native Client. The LLVM-style bytecode is wrapped into a portable executable, which can be hosted on a web server like any other website asset. When the site is accessed, Chrome fetches and translates the portable executable into an architecture-specific machine code optimized directly for the underlying device. This translation approach means developers don't need to recompile their applications multiple times to run across x86, ARM or MIPS devices.
However, despite its public debut, PNaCl still faces a difficult road ahead. PNaCl, its predecessor Native Client (NaCl), and Pepper, the group of APIs that let PNaCl talk to the browser, only work in Google Chrome. There don't appear to be plans at the moment to integrate them into other browsers at the moment, with Mozilla publicly critical of PNaCl for violating Google's principles of adhering to open and accepted Web standards in Blink, Chrome's rendering engine.
"Unfortunately it appears Blink's principles only apply to Blink, not Chrome as a whole," wrote Mozilla programmer Robert O'Callahan.
Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the adoption challenges facing PNaCl.
There are legitimate concerns that supporting several programming foundations at once could lead to a Web that's harder to develop for. The critics claim that coding for PNaCl will lead to a fractured Web sounds not unlike the way that Web developers had to code specifically for Internet Explorer a decade ago.
