Matt McCormick - ITK-Wasm: Universal spatial analysis and visualization | SciPy 2024

WebAssembly (WASM) is an open web standard enabling high-performance, portable, language-independent code execution with compact binary size

ITK-WASM brings WebAssembly capabilities to scientific computing, focusing on spatial analysis and visualization through self-contained, modular packages

Key benefits include:

• Zero installation requirements
• Near-native performance
• Cross-platform compatibility (Linux, Mac, Windows, ARM, Intel)
• Security through sandboxed execution
• Language-agnostic implementation

The technology supports:

• SIMD (Single Instruction Multiple Data) operations
• Multi-threading capabilities
• NumPy array integration
• Idiomatic interfaces across programming languages

WASM modules are sustainable and future-proof:

• Self-contained execution environments
• Platform-independent deployment
• Long-term compatibility
• Reduced maintenance burden

The component model approach allows:

• Building blocks that can be composed into new modules
• Integration with existing scientific Python packages
• Generation of automated bindings and documentation
• Pipeline-based processing workflows

ITK-WASM improves scientific computing accessibility by:

• Eliminating complex installation procedures
• Enabling browser-based execution
• Supporting interactive visualization
• Facilitating reproducible research

The technology extends beyond browsers, supporting system-level applications and integration with traditional scientific computing tools