1 ######################## 2 Welcome to Native Client 3 ######################## 4 5 .. raw:: html 6 7 <div id="home"> 8 <div class="pull-quote">To get the SDK and<br/>installation instructions<br/> 9 <a href="/native-client/sdk/download.html">visit the SDK Download page</a>. 10 </div> 11 <div class="big-intro"> 12 13 **Native Client** is a sandbox for running compiled C and C++ code in the 14 browser efficiently and securely, independent of the user's operating system. 15 **Portable Native Client** extends that technology with 16 architecture independence, letting developers compile their code once to run 17 in any website and on any architecture with ahead-of-time (AOT) translation. 18 19 In short, Native Client brings the **performance** and **low-level control** 20 of native code to modern web browsers, without sacrificing the **security** and 21 **portability** of the web. Watch the video below for an overview of 22 Native Client, including its goals, how it works, and how 23 Portable Native Client lets developers run native compiled code on the web. 24 25 .. Note:: 26 :class: note 27 28 This site uses several examples of Native Client. For the best experience, 29 consider downloading the `latest version of Chrome 30 <http://www.google.com/chrome/>`_. When you come back, be sure to `check out 31 our demos <https://gonativeclient.appspot.com/demo>`_. 32 33 .. raw:: html 34 35 </div> 36 37 <iframe class="video" width="600" height="337" 38 src="//www.youtube.com/embed/MvKEomoiKBA?rel=0" frameborder="0"></iframe> 39 <div class="big-intro"> 40 41 Two Types of Modules 42 ==================== 43 44 Native Client comes in two flavors. 45 46 * **Portable Native Client (PNaCl)**: Pronounced 'pinnacle', PNaCl runs single, 47 portable (**pexe**) executables and is available in most implementations of 48 Chrome. A translator built into Chrome translates the pexe into native code 49 for the client hardware. The entire module is translated before any code is 50 executed rather than as the code is executed. PNaCl modules can be hosted from 51 any web server. 52 * **Native Client (NaCl)**: Also called traditional or non-portable Native 53 Client, NaCl runs architecture-dependent (**nexe**) modules, which are 54 packaged into an application. At runtime, the browser decides which nexe to 55 load based on the architecture of the client machine. NaCl modules must be run 56 from the `Chrome Web Store (CWS) 57 <https://chrome.google.com/webstore/category/apps>`_. Fortunately, work from 58 PNaCl modules can be used to create NaCl modules. 59 60 These flavors are described in more depth in :doc:`PNaCl and NaCl 61 <nacl-and-pnacl>` 62 63 .. raw:: html 64 65 <div class="left-side"> 66 <div class="left-side-inner"> 67 <h2>Hello World</h2> 68 <div class="big-intro"> 69 70 To jump right in :doc:`take the tutorial <devguide/tutorial/tutorial-part1>` 71 that walks you through a basic web application for Portable Native Client 72 (PNaCl). This is a client-side application that uses HTML, JavaScript, and a 73 Native Client module written in C++. 74 75 .. raw:: html 76 77 </div> 78 </div> 79 </div> 80 <h2>A Little More Advanced</h2> 81 <div class="big-intro"> 82 83 If you've already got the basics down, you're probably trying to get a real 84 application ready for production. You're :doc:`building 85 <devguide/devcycle/building>`, :doc:`debugging <devguide/devcycle/debugging>` 86 or :doc:`ready to distribute <devguide/distributing>`. 87 88 .. raw:: html 89 90 </div> 91 92 <div class="left-side"> 93 <div class="left-side-inner"> 94 <h2>Nuts and Bolts</h2> 95 <div class="big-intro"> 96 97 You've been working on a Native Client module for a while now and you've run 98 into an arcane problem. You may need to refer to the :doc:`PNaCl Bitcode 99 Reference <reference/pnacl-bitcode-abi>` or the :doc:`Sandbox internals 100 <reference/sandbox_internals/index>`. 101 102 .. raw:: html 103 104 </div> 105 </div> 106 </div> 107 108 I Want to Know Everything 109 ========================= 110 111 So, you like to read now and try later. Start with our :doc:`Technical Overview 112 <overview>` 113 114 .. raw:: html 115 116 <div class="big-intro" style="clear: both;"> 117 118 Send us questions, comments, and feedback: `native-client-discuss 119 <https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/native-client-discuss>`_. 120 121 .. raw:: html 122 123 </div> 124
