Latest Advancements

Latest Advancements

This module introduces cutting-edge technologies that are transforming how web and mobile applications are built, deployed, and experienced by users. These technologies focus on improving performance, user experience, development efficiency, and scalability.

Progressive Web Apps (PWAs)

• PWAs combine the best features of web and mobile apps, providing a native app-like experience.They work in the browser but feel like mobile apps - fast, installable, offline-ready, and engaging.

• Key Features:

  • Offline Capabilities: PWAs use Service Workers to cache content and allow the app to work offline or in low-connectivity environments.

    • Service Workers intercept network requests and serve cached content, ensuring that users can interact with the app even when they lose internet access.

  • App-like Experience: PWAs mimic the feel of native mobile apps by loading quickly and providing smooth, interactive user interfaces.

    • PWAs can be added to the home screen of a device, making them easily accessible like any native mobile app.

  • Push Notifications: Keep users engaged with updates and messages even when the app is closed.

  • Responsive Design: Seamlessly adapts across devices- mobile, tablet, desktop.

  • Web App Manifest: A JSON file(manifest.json) that defines how the app appears to the user (icon, name, theme).

    • Enables “Add to Home Screen” prompts.

• Benefits:

  • Faster load times: PWAs are optimized for fast loading, even in areas with slow internet connections, thanks to caching and preloading mechanisms.

  • Works on any device (mobile, tablet, desktop)

  • No app store: No need for users to install via app stores

  • Reduced Development Overhead: Allow developers to maintain a single codebase for both web and mobile, reducing duplication of effort compared to maintaining separate native apps.

• Example: Twitter Lite- A lightweight version of Twitter that works well on slow connections and can be added to the home screen.

WebAssembly (Wasm)

• WebAssembly (Wasm) is a low-level, binary instruction format that allows code written in languages like C, C++, Rust to run in the browser with near-native performance.

• Wasm is designed to work alongside JavaScript to enable use cases where JavaScript falls short in performance.JavaScript is great for general-purpose scripting and UI work, but it's not ideal for CPU-intensive tasks like:

  • Complex mathematical computations

  • Real-time video, audio, or image editing.

  • Machine learning and data visualization.

  • High-performance simulations (physics, finance, CAD).

  • Game development in the browser (e.g., 3D engines like Unity).

  • Running legacy or cross-platform apps in the browser (e.g., AutoCAD, Figma).

• Key Features:

  • High Performance: Compiled to binary → Runs much faster than JavaScript for compute-heavy tasks.

  • Browser Compatibility: Supported by all modern browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge).

  • Language Interoperability: Enables C/C++/Rust code to be used in web apps.

  • Low-Level Access: Can access hardware-level features for intensive tasks.

• Integration with JavaScript:

  • Write performance-heavy parts in C/C++/Rust.

  • Compile it to .wasm, a binary format

  • Import .wasm module in JavaScript using the WebAssembly API.

  • Call its functions just like JS functions.

  • The browser runs that binary code using its Wasm engine, which is built into the JavaScript engine (like V8 in Chrome).

Micro Frontends

• Micro Frontends apply the Microservices philosophy to frontend development — splitting a large monolithic frontend into smaller, manageable, independently deployable units.

• Key Features:

  • Modular Development: Each team can own and build a feature or section of the UI independently.

  • Independent Deployment: Teams can deploy their parts of the frontend without affecting other parts.

  • Decoupling: Different frontend technologies can be used for different parts of the application.