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Wasm can't do anything JS couldn't do already.

by dagmx 6y ago

ttt0 6y ago
What JS can do is already bad enough.
yjbanov 6y ago
There are a few things that WASM can do that JS can't (at least not now): - Memory management without GC - Unboxed data structures - SIMD - Shared-memory multi-threading - Precompiled snapshots (does not need to be recompiled on page reload)
- dagmx 6y ago
  I should clarify, in the context of the reply I was referring to security. Wasm is inherently as secure as JavaScript.
- hajile 6y ago
  Bytecode caching has been a browser feature for years[0] JS has atomics and shared memory arrays which also basically bypass garbage collection [1] JS had working simd.js implementations in both Firefox and Chrome until they were pulled in favor of WASM [0] https://v8.dev/blog/code-caching-for-devs https://v8.dev/blog/code-caching-for-devs [1] https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Atomics https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Refe... [2] https://github.com/tc39/ecmascript_simd https://github.com/tc39/ecmascript_simd https://blog.mozilla.org/javascript/2015/03/10/state-of-simd-js-performance-in-firefox/ https://blog.mozilla.org/javascript/2015/03/10/state-of-simd... https://01.org/blogs/2014/bringing-simd-javascript https://01.org/blogs/2014/bringing-simd-javascript
AlchemistCamp 6y ago
It can do integers.
- hajile 6y ago
  BigInt landed in ES2020 and has been supported in something like the last 10-20 versions of Chrome and Firefox, so no huge worries about using it (the "current" browser without support is IE11). The `123|0` type hint is also recognized and implemented by most browsers too. It forces a 31-bit integer on most platforms (and can offer a significant performance boosts if you're running a tight algorithm). https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/BigInt https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Refe...

Wasm can't do anything JS couldn't do already.

by dagmx 6y ago

Wasm can't do anything JS couldn't do already.

ttt0 6y ago

What JS can do is already bad enough.

yjbanov 6y ago

There are a few things that WASM can do that JS can't (at least not now): - Memory management without GC - Unboxed data structures - SIMD - Shared-memory multi-threading - Precompiled snapshots (does not need to be recompiled on page reload)

dagmx 6y ago
I should clarify, in the context of the reply I was referring to security. Wasm is inherently as secure as JavaScript.
hajile 6y ago
Bytecode caching has been a browser feature for years[0] JS has atomics and shared memory arrays which also basically bypass garbage collection [1] JS had working simd.js implementations in both Firefox and Chrome until they were pulled in favor of WASM [0] https://v8.dev/blog/code-caching-for-devs https://v8.dev/blog/code-caching-for-devs [1] https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Atomics https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Refe... [2] https://github.com/tc39/ecmascript_simd https://github.com/tc39/ecmascript_simd https://blog.mozilla.org/javascript/2015/03/10/state-of-simd-js-performance-in-firefox/ https://blog.mozilla.org/javascript/2015/03/10/state-of-simd... https://01.org/blogs/2014/bringing-simd-javascript https://01.org/blogs/2014/bringing-simd-javascript

AlchemistCamp 6y ago

It can do integers.

hajile 6y ago
BigInt landed in ES2020 and has been supported in something like the last 10-20 versions of Chrome and Firefox, so no huge worries about using it (the "current" browser without support is IE11). The `123|0` type hint is also recognized and implemented by most browsers too. It forces a 31-bit integer on most platforms (and can offer a significant performance boosts if you're running a tight algorithm). https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/BigInt https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Refe...