Fragment – R and CPython REPLs Running Purely in the Browser via WASM

In passing, I note a console based R REPL running in the browser via WASM, courtesy of georgestagg/webR (demo here).

Demo at: https://www.mas.ncl.ac.uk/~ngs54/webR/

My immediate thought was: so how easy would it be to wrap the underlying R environment as a JupyterLite kernel? (Related issue here.) I guess an open question then is: will R packages just install as cross-platfrom PyPi wheels do, or will compiling be necessary?

For a related tale about the joys of trying to get various programming languages to run via WASM, see FORTRAN In The Browser.

In further passing, I note the availability of Build scripts and configuration for building CPython for Emscripten at ethanhs/python-wasm, with a REPL demo here.

Author: Tony Hirst

I'm a Senior Lecturer at The Open University, with an interest in #opendata policy and practice, as well as general web tinkering... View all posts by Tony Hirst