Executing your first C & Cpp program using WebAssembly

Hi Folks, welcome to the another blog. Earlier we learned about the applications of Wasm but today we'll execute a CLang program using Wasm.

A small Introduction:

# WebAssembly (abbreviated Wasm) is a binary instruction format for a stack-based virtual machine. Wasm is designed as a portable compilation target for programming languages, enabling deployment on the web for client and server applications.

Setting Up C/Cpp and Wasm

Considering the enviornment in Linux

1. Install C/Cpp compiler

$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get upgrade
$ sudo apt-get install build-essential
$ gcc -v
$ make -v

2. Install Wasmer

Wasmer is an open-source runtime for executing WebAssembly on the Server.
If you haven't yet, let's install Wasmer:

$ curl https://get.wasmer.io -sSfL | sh

Once Wasmer is installed, you can get the pkg-config easily:

$ wasmer config --pkg-config
prefix=/Users/USER/.wasmer
exec_prefix=/Users/USER/.wasmer/bin
includedir=/Users/USER/.wasmer/include
libdir=/Users/syrus/.wasmer/lib

Name: wasmer
Description: The Wasmer library for running WebAssembly
Version: 2.0.0
Cflags: -I/Users/USER/.wasmer/include/wasmer
Libs: -L/Users/syrus/.wasmer/lib -lwasmer

3. Install Wasienv

Wasienv is used to compile various programming languages to Wasm to run on browser or web sever.

curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wasienv/wasienv/master/install.sh | sh
wasmtime ReBinary.wasm 

If you want to compile a C/Cpp file to a WebAssembly WASI:

# To compile to a WebAssembly WASI file
# This command will generate:
#  • An executable: ./example
#  • A WebAssembly file: ./example.wasm
wasicc examples/example.c -o example

# If you are using configure
wasiconfigure ./configure

# If you are using cmake (or make)
wasimake cmake .

If you want to compile a C/Cpp file to plain WebAssembly:

# To compile to a WebAssembly file
# This command will generate:
#  • An executable: ./example
#  • A WebAssembly file: ./example.wasm
wasmcc examples/example.c -o example

For installing a SDK (wasienv install-sdk):
wasienv install-sdk 7

For setting a SDK as the default (wasienv default-sdk):
wasienv default-sdk 7

4. Wasmtime

Wasmtime is a small and efficient runtime for WebAssembly & WASI.

$ curl https://wasmtime.dev/install.sh -sSf | bash
$ wasienv install-sdk unstable

Run Your first Program

Create a file named ReverseANo.c or ReverseANo.cpp and write the Program

// Reverse a No.

#include<stdio.h>  
 int main()    
{    
int n, reverse=0, rem;    
printf("Enter a number: \n");    
  scanf("%d", &n);    
  while(n!=0)    
  {    
     rem=n%10;    
     reverse=reverse*10+rem;    
     n/=10;    
  }    
  printf("Reversed Number: %d \n",reverse);    
return 0;  
}  

Compile and run

Now, to generate .wasm binary file from the .c/.cpp file, we will use Wasienv.

For .c

wasicc ReverseANo.c -o ReBinary.wasm

For .cpp

wasicc ReverseANo.cpp -o ReBinary.wasm

Neglect the Warnings.

A new ReBinary.wasm file will be created.

Now, to execute this file we will use wasmtime.

wasmtime ReBinary.wasm 

You can run your first program by working on this example which is Reverse a Number written in C.

Just change extension to .cpp for C++ programs

Do comment your ideas and suggestions related to the blog and please share if you found it useful.
Write your queries in comment section, we'll help you to resolve your errors.