WebAssembly and Erlang: Powering the Next Generation of Web 3.0 Platforms

The emergence of Web 3.0 promises a decentralised user-centric internet built on blockchain technologies. This new paradigm requires web platforms that are highly concurrent, scalable, and secure. This whitepaper explores the potential of WebAssembly (WASM) and Erlang in shaping the future of Web 3.0 development. WASM's ability to run code written in various languages within web browsers expands the capabilities of web platforms, while Erlang's strengths in concurrency, fault tolerance, and security align perfectly with the demands of Web 3.0 decentralised applications (dApps).

1. Introduction

Web 3.0, the next iteration of the internet, is envisioned as a decentralised and user-owned internet. Blockchain technology underpins this vision, enabling secure peer-to-peer interactions and empowering users with control over their data. To realise this vision, web platforms need to evolve to handle the unique demands of Web 3.0 applications beyond the limitations of the current client/server or front-end/back-end architecture.

These demands include:

• High Concurrency: dApps are expected to manage an exponentially increasing volume of users, data and real-time interactions. Traditional web development approaches struggle with this level of concurrency.

• Scalability: Web 3.0 platforms need to scale seamlessly and dynamically across cloud-native and hybrid infrastructure and a growing list of interoperable SaaS and PaaS services.

• Security: dApps often involve sensitive data and require robust security mechanisms to prevent breaches and ensure data integrity.

  
  

2. WebAssembly: Expanding the Web Development Landscape

WebAssembly (WASM) is a revolutionary technology that allows code written in various languages to be run natively within web browsers. This breaks the traditional reliance on JavaScript as the sole language for web development whilst offering 2 key advantages:

• Performance: Compared to pure JavaScript, WASM code can achieve near-native performance, making it suitable for computationally intensive tasks often encountered in Web 3.0 applications and platforms.

• Interoperability: WASM enables seamless integration of code written in different languages within a single Web 3.0 application. This allows developers to leverage the strengths of each language for specific functionalities.

  
  

  3. Erlang: A Language Built for Concurrency and Fault Tolerance

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  Erlang is a functional programming language designed for building scalable, fault-tolerant systems. Its key features make it highly suitable for Web 3.0:

  
  

  • Lightweight Processes: Erlang utilizes lightweight processes for concurrency, allowing for efficient handling of numerous concurrent requests without compromising performance.

  • Supervision Trees: Erlangs implementation of supervision trees automatically restart failing processes, ensuring the overall application remains available even if individual components encounter errors. This built-in robustness is crucial for mission-critical Web 3.0 applications and expands on the existing solutions that achieve this using containerised microservices.

  • Security Features: Erlang emphasises robust error handling and memory isolation to develop highly secure applications, a critical aspect for dApps dealing with sensitive user data at scale.

    
    

  4. WASM with Erlang: A Perfect Match for Web 3.0 Development

  
  

  The combination of WASM and Erlang holds immense potential for building next-generation Web 3.0 platforms. The key benefits of this architecture delivers:

                      

  • Real-time Features: Erlang's concurrency excels at handling real-time data in lightweight processes by using Actor primitives. This makes it ideal for building features like decentralised marketplaces, collaborative editing tools or live data dashboards within Web 3.0 applications where real-time data streams are needed for the back-end and responsive platform-agnostic Web 3.0 front-end dApp using WASM.

  • Scalable Infrastructure: WASM is a low-level assembly language so it uses the Java concept of write-once and run-anywhere but without the performance trade-off that Java has. Combined with high-concurrency this is perfect for deploying Erlang-based code for building scalable infrastructure components like blockchain oracles, smart contracts and data feeds, which are crucial elements of a Web 3.0 platform.

  • Secure Communication Protocols: Erlang natively supports OTP for asyncronous messaging and Distributed Storage across blockchain nodes, which can be combined with WASMs Secure Enclave sandboxes for isolated process execution to provide the robust security protocols for dApps, where data integrity and reliability are paramount.

    
    

  5. Delivering Next-Gen Engineering Platforms

  
  

  WASM and Erlang can be integrated with serverless and Kubernetes architectures for efficient dApp transitions from Web 2.0 to Web 3.0.

  Here's how:

  • Serverless Functions: Small, single-purpose Erlang functions compiled to WASM can be deployed as serverless functions, ideal for handling short-lived tasks or event-driven actions within dApps. This leverages the scalability and cost benefits of serverless architectures.

  • Kubernetes Orchestration: Microservices written in Erlang and compiled to WASM can be containerised and deployed on Kubernetes clusters. Kubernetes provides container orchestration, scaling, and load balancing natively, ensuring efficient management of dApp backend functionalities.

    
    

  This combined approach using WASM, Erlang, serverless functions and Kubernetes offers a robust and scalable foundation for building next-generation engineering platforms specifically designed for dApp development and deployment in Web 3.0.

                   

  6. Addressing the Challenges

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  While WASM with Erlang offers significant promise for Web 3.0 development, some challenges need to be addressed:

  
  

  • WASM/Erlang Maturity: WASM and Erlang are still under development. Wider adoption in Web 3.0 development hinges on improvements in tooling, libraries, and community support.

  • Browser Compatibility: Although WASM is gaining traction, ensuring compatibility across different web browsers can be an initial hurdle, though is slowly changing as more WASM apps are developed.

  • Developer Adoption: Developers need to be trained in both WASM and Erlang to leverage the full potential of this technology stack and there is a distinct skills gap in both of these technologies. Upskilling programs and educational resources will be crucial for widespread adoption.

  • Operational Complexity: Further to the skills gap, these technologoes are aimed for enterprise scale so are inherently complex to implement and then operationally support. The value that they bring is in proportion though, especially for large-scale Web 3.0 solutions.

    
    

  7. Conclusion

  
  

  In summary, WASM with Erlang presents a compelling vision for the future of Web 3.0 development. By combining WASM's versatility with Erlang's strengths in concurrency, scalability, and security, developers can build next-generation Web 3.0 platforms that are natively robust, efficient, and secure. Addressing the challenges of WASM/Erlang maturity will mature as Web 3.0 matures, paving the road for widespread adoption and eventually becoming tghe de-facto standard. The potential benefits are undeniable for a true decentralised user-centric Web 3.0 experience, with the ability to leverage serverless and Kubernetes architectures for an efficient transition of existing Web 2.0 development and deployment technologies and engineering processes.

  
  

  To find out more about a future where Web 3.0 applications can be built with the performance, security and scalability needed to thrive in a decentralised world, contact us now!