Sometimes, complex web based applications consume many resources on the server side, needing a powerful processor capable to handle possible hundreds of thousands of HTTP requests in the same time.

This issue is simplified by the Google Native Client, an open-source technology that allows the running of x86 native code in web browsers. In this way, the user CPU resources are used while the browser still have a neutral role. As a consequence a certain web based application will run faster, as compared for example with the situation when a part of the code is executed on the server side and the results are then sent to the browser, when a higher data transfer time is involved.

On the Google Code Blog, Brad Chen (Native Client Team) explains the basic principles of Native Client technology: “At its core, our release consists of a runtime, a browser plugin, and a set of GCC-based compilation tools. Together, these components make it possible to build applications that run in a web browser but incorporate native code modules. To help protect users from malware and to maintain portability, we have defined strict rules for valid modules.”

The user security is managed by running the native code in an inner-sandbox that does not permit the interactions between the native code module and operating system. The possible security problems are isolated through a static analysis.

Regarding the existing possibilities of running native code in web browsers, Mack D. Male appreciates Google Native Client technology as being unnecessary, because there are already many other current reliable alternatives like Java or ActiveX: “Native Client is just ActiveX for browsers other than Internet Explorer.”

For the developers that might want to test the features of this technology, the compilation tools and runtime are available for free download for Linux, Windows and MacOS operating systems. The native code is compatible with Firefox, Safari, Opera and Google Chrome browsers running on a computer powered by an x86 processor.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 9th, 2008 at 10:26 am and is filed under Google methods & tools. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.