The End of JNI Pain: How WebAssembly Is Quietly Replacing Native Libraries in Java (#98)

WebAssembly is already running inside Java applications, but most developers just don't know it yet.In this episode, Andrea Peruffo walks us through how WebAssembly is becoming the modern, safe alternative to JNI. Run Rust, C, and other native libraries directly on the JVM, without the crash risks, per-platform packaging headaches, or the observability blackhole that JNI creates.From JRuby's Prism parser to SQLite and full Postgres running as pure Java bytecode, the use cases are real. And the project making it possible, Endive, under the Bytecode Alliance, is open and ready to explore.GuestAndrea PeruffoGitHub: https://github.com/andreaTP/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-peruffo-32269178/Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/andreatp.bsky.socialLinksA New Generation of Java Libraries: Wasm Becomes the Implementation DetailChicory on GitHubEndive on GitHubEndive documentationBytecode AllianceOpenJDK Project DetroitTimestamps00:00 Introduction of topic and guests00:56 What is WebAssembly?03:35 Comparing the performance with JavaScript05:45 JRuby already uses WebAssembly09:04 JNI versus FFM API versus WebAssembly13:58 Other Java-related tools that use WebAssembly17:56 History of the Chicory and Endive projects to bring WebAssembly to Java21:03 Projects of the Bytecode Alliance22:02 The Endive project as the glue to bring WebAssembly tools to Java23:30 Integration of the Redline compiler28:59 Why this is the perfect solution to modernize existing Java applications31:18 Is this approach performant?32:24 What future changes in Java and the JVM will make this even better35:04 How Endive can be used in AI development37:28 What to expect in Endive41:29 Conclusions