Summary

In this chapter, we discussed the elements of WebAssembly and their relationship. The structure of the Core Specification was used to describe the mapping of the text and binary formats to a common abstract syntax. We highlighted aspects of the text format (Wat) that can be useful in the context of debugging and development, as well as why s-expressions are an excellent fit for the textual representation of the abstract syntax. We also reviewed details pertaining to the binary format and the various elements that make up a module. The methods and objects within the JavaScript and Web APIs were defined with descriptions of their roles with regard to WebAssembly interaction. Finally, a simple example of the relationship between source code, Wat, and JavaScript was presented using the WasmFiddle tool. 

In Chapter 3, Setting Up a Development Environment, we'll install the development tooling we'll use to work effectively with WebAssembly.