5 ms·

Web Assembly is specifically designed not to replace JavaScript [0]. [0]: http://webassembly.org/docs/faq/#is-webassembly-trying-to-replace-javascript http://w

by hdhzy 9y ago

Web Assembly is specifically designed not to replace JavaScript [0]. [0]: http://webassembly.org/docs/faq/#is-webassembly-trying-to-replace-javascript http://webassembly.org/docs/faq/#is-webassembly-trying-to-re...

_pmf_ 9y ago
That's what they have to tell to placate JS apologists.
vesinisa 9y ago
I was commenting to the GP about technologies to replace JavaScript. On the long term WASM is the best candidate, though it's indeed not one of the intended goals of the project. JS will be with us eternally, rest assured. But if DOM-enabled WASM would one day gain wide adoption, developers targeting contemporary browsers of the future would at least have a wider selection of runtimes to choose form in addition to JS.
- amelius 9y ago
  I can also see it happen that browsers will one day shut down plain JavaScript, only allowing WASM. Certainly if the security burden becomes too big.
  - oblio 9y ago
    That's awfully optimistic of you. First of all browsers are committed to backwards compatibility. Secondly, there's huge amounts of Javascript written right now, nobody's going to throw away billions of dollars worth of investments. People complain about Cobol written in the 60's, when the programmers counted in the thousands. Javacript today is written by millions of programmers. And thirdly, Javascript evolves, as do browsers.
    - sargun 9y ago
      I can certainly see a world where WASM and JS execution pipelines in browsers converge -- where the form used for executing WASM and JS is the same.
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]
  - int_19h 9y ago
    Once WASM becomes established, I would expect JS to become "yet another runtime" on it.
- oblio 9y ago
  On the other hand, if you thought modern browsers are bloated, just wait for everyone to compile their runtimes on top of WASM. It's not very hard to imagine, especially in an enteprise environment, running a browser 15-20 years from now and that browser loading the equivalent of the JVM, .NET CLR, Ruby VM, etc., on top of WASM :)
  - krapp 9y ago
    15-20 years from now, it's likely that "browser" will just be the operating system.
    - missblit 9y ago
      This actually reminds me of "es-operating-system"; an experimental operating system copyrighted by Nintendo (yes, Nintendo!), where "every system API is defined in Web IDL". AFAIK it never went anywhere, but maybe building an entirely new OS/Browser based around WebIDL seemed less insane 10 years ago. https://code.google.com/archive/p/es-operating-system/ https://code.google.com/archive/p/es-operating-system/
  - goatlover 9y ago
    We'll all have gigabit connections by then. So even though it'll be 100 mb of bloat, it will still load the same as today ;)
    - gavinpc 9y ago
      Yes but they'll be pwned by the FCC (and friends). Don't count on it.

by hdhzy 9y ago

_pmf_ 9y ago

That's what they have to tell to placate JS apologists.

vesinisa 9y ago

I was commenting to the GP about technologies to replace JavaScript. On the long term WASM is the best candidate, though it's indeed not one of the intended goals of the project. JS will be with us eternally, rest assured. But if DOM-enabled WASM would one day gain wide adoption, developers targeting contemporary browsers of the future would at least have a wider selection of runtimes to choose form in addition to JS.

amelius 9y ago
I can also see it happen that browsers will one day shut down plain JavaScript, only allowing WASM. Certainly if the security burden becomes too big.
- oblio 9y ago
  That's awfully optimistic of you. First of all browsers are committed to backwards compatibility. Secondly, there's huge amounts of Javascript written right now, nobody's going to throw away billions of dollars worth of investments. People complain about Cobol written in the 60's, when the programmers counted in the thousands. Javacript today is written by millions of programmers. And thirdly, Javascript evolves, as do browsers.
  - sargun 9y ago
    I can certainly see a world where WASM and JS execution pipelines in browsers converge -- where the form used for executing WASM and JS is the same.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
- int_19h 9y ago
  Once WASM becomes established, I would expect JS to become "yet another runtime" on it.
oblio 9y ago
On the other hand, if you thought modern browsers are bloated, just wait for everyone to compile their runtimes on top of WASM. It's not very hard to imagine, especially in an enteprise environment, running a browser 15-20 years from now and that browser loading the equivalent of the JVM, .NET CLR, Ruby VM, etc., on top of WASM :)
- krapp 9y ago
  15-20 years from now, it's likely that "browser" will just be the operating system.
  - missblit 9y ago
    This actually reminds me of "es-operating-system"; an experimental operating system copyrighted by Nintendo (yes, Nintendo!), where "every system API is defined in Web IDL". AFAIK it never went anywhere, but maybe building an entirely new OS/Browser based around WebIDL seemed less insane 10 years ago. https://code.google.com/archive/p/es-operating-system/ https://code.google.com/archive/p/es-operating-system/
- goatlover 9y ago
  We'll all have gigabit connections by then. So even though it'll be 100 mb of bloat, it will still load the same as today ;)
  - gavinpc 9y ago
    Yes but they'll be pwned by the FCC (and friends). Don't count on it.