Google has released 14 of Chrome in the beta test Chrome chain, which includes, among other innovations, the initial beta version of Google "Native Client" technology, first announced in 2010.
If you want to try Chrome beta 14, head on to the beta download page.
Chrome 14 has several improvements, including the much better OS X Lion integration that we mentioned earlier, with the support of the preview before printing for users of Mac OS X. But perhaps the biggest news is that Google Native Client technology is closer to the time premium.
Native Client is a set of tools open source chromium to run compiled c and C++ code in the same way, the browser running JavaScript or other common web programming languages. Native code provides both a security sandbox and a set of interfaces that offer HTML5 capabilities, c and C++ bindings. This means that web application developers can tap into libraries Office to create faster, more powerful web applications.
For example, suppose that you want to create an application of web video editing along the lines of Final Cut Pro. You could build the HTML, CSS and JavaScript user interface, but the actual processing of video would probably be very slow if you handed over to offshore employment to the server. You can try to use JavaScript in the browser, but once again the speed would be a problem. Native Client would allow you to do the video processing in the browser, but the execution of native code. All you have to do is to make final changes to the server, which in fact for a web application allows many.
What faster Native Client will be open to debate. Certainly the JavaScript performance has improved since Google first announced Native Client in June 2010. The past year has seen huge improvements in speed of JavaScript in almost all major web browsers, which means that Native Client feels less need might have when Google began to work on it. Of course there are still many web applications, particularly computer apps intensive, like non-linear video editors, who could benefit from the Native Client.
The problem for web developers app is that so far Native Client is only available in Chrome. Google has created an API, called Pepper - Native Client is abbreviated NaCl, who is also a shortcut for table salt, get it? -which allows the browser to talk to native client and means that any web browser could, in theory, apply. So far, however, none has.
For now, if you want to test Google code examples, some, seize the last beta of Chrome and the head more than the Native Client demo page. In my test Native Client was indeed very fast, but he sent time running my laptop fan overload.
Game of the life of Conway running in the native clientWhile the Native Client is still a beta version, if it catches with developers and other browsers embrace it, it could open the doors to a whole new generation of web applications faster and more powerful.
