Preamble
The browsers only understand JavaScript, however with rise of stuff that we use on browsers e.g. Games, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, JavaScript hasn't been able to catch up due to its inherent interpreted nature despite its powerful engines like V8.
Suppose you have a cool game or software developed in a low-level programming language e.g. C/C++ or a high-level programming language e.g. Java/C#/Rust/Go. With WebAssembly you can run these apps on a browser. Wihout re-writing them in JavaScript.
Wait, what?
What is WebAssembly?
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.
-https://webassembly.org/
WebAssembly, or wasm, is the most significant new technology to come to the web platform in a decade. Technically speaking, it is a new, low-level, assembly-like language that runs efficiently on the existing web platform and is backward-compatible with its precursor, asm.js. Most people, however, will use the wasm format as a compiler target, translating their applications into web-ready modules that can run in modern web browsers at near-native speeds.
-https://research.mozilla.org/webassembly
W A S M
Check out Milica Mihajlija's awesome blog to know more.
Blazor
Blazor is an open-source framework from Microsoft to develop Component based UIs using language you already know and love, C#. I'll be blunt and say:
It's Microsoft's response to Angular and React.
Because why not?
But it's not why we're talking about Blazor here. The reason is, one of the hosting models of Blazor is WebAssembly.
Blazor's home page says:
Blazor can run your client-side C# code directly in the browser, using WebAssembly. Because it's real .NET running on WebAssembly, you can re-use code and libraries from server-side parts of your application.
-https://dotnet.microsoft.com/apps/aspnet/web-apps/blazor
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