Finally reality is catching up with the WASM sales pitch against other bytecode formats introduced since 1958, regarding security and how great it is over anything else.

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singpolyma3 10 hours ago | parent [-]

Warm was great because it was lightweight and easy to target from any language and create any custom interaction API with the host. That's becoming less true as they bolt on features no one needed (GC) and popularize standardized interfaces that contain the kitchen sink (WASI) but these things can still be treated as optional so it can still be used for much more flexible use cases than java or .net

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azakai an hour ago | parent | next [-]

> features no one needed (GC)

WasmGC is absolutely necessary for languages like Dart, Kotlin, and Java, which are all using it right now successfully.

But I get that if you're compiling C or Rust then it might seem like it isn't useful.

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mhjkl 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

There’s no guarantee the toolchains will support WASM “preview” forever and make the bloat optional, and even if they do you could still end up in an ecosystem where it would be unviable. At some point you’re probably better off just compiling to RISCV and using an emulator library instead.

	▲	apitman 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Fortunately core wasm is simple enough for a single person to implement an interpreter or even compiler for. Even if the major engines continue to pile on complexity we have a pretty good escape hatch I think.

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pjmlp 10 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Since 1958 (UNCOL) there have been more options than only Java or CLR MSIL.