I've updated my comment to add more clarification, but let me elaborate a bit more here. If you have the following code: int powi(int n, int m) { int s

I've updated my comment to add more clarification, but let me elaborate a bit more here. If you have the following code: int powi(int n, int m) { int s = 1; while (--m >= 0) s *= n; return s; } The compiled WebAssembly code would look like this (the actual textual format): (func $powi (param $0 i32) (param $1 i32) (result i32) (local $2 i32) (set_local $2 (i32.const 1)) (block $break (loop $continue (br_if $break (i32.ge_s (tee_local $1 (i32.sub (get_local $1) (i32.const 1))) (i32.const 0))) (set_local $2 (i32.mul (get_local $2) (get_local $0))) (br $continue) ) ) (get_local $2) ) Note the clear resemblance between the original code and the compiled binary. The main difference is two branch labels, because WebAssembly distinguishes forward and backward jumps by block types (`block` vs. `loop`). The binary retains all parameters and local variables. When we say WebAssembly is a stack machine, it means that this gets serialized like this: (The textual format allows both forms, while the binary format is a direct translation of the latter.) (func $powi (param $0 i32) (param $1 i32) (result i32) (local $2 i32) i32.const 1 set_local $2 block $break loop $continue get_local $1 i32.const 1 i32.sub tee_local $1 i32.const 0 i32.ge_s br_if $break get_local $2 get_local $0 i32.mul set_local $2 br $continue end end get_local $2 ) In principle you can execute this just like a stack machine with variables, but optimizing implementations will translate this into machine codes, which wouldn't look much like either forms. So the stack machine representation doesn't imply the stack machine execution.