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They say running the hello world example "is as simple as this:" wasmer run wasmer/winterjs --dir=. serviceworker.js But ... what does that mean? After I

by TekMol 3y ago

They say running the hello world example "is as simple as this:" wasmer run wasmer/winterjs --dir=. serviceworker.js But ... what does that mean? After I turned on a new computer, I certainly can't type that command and have it running "a JavaScript Service Workers server written in Rust, that uses the SpiderMonkey runtime to execute JavaScript" as they put it. What is the background here? Say I have a newly installed Debian 12 machine - how do I get to use this thing?

atoav 3y ago
On a tangent here: many IT people really suck at explaining things from the start. I sometimes wonder if they fail to remember a time where it was them that didn't know e.g. what a console actually is and how it can be used, before giving the person opposite an non-explaination like: "You just have to do $CLI-APPLICATION-TASK" Not that I have anything against command line applications (quite the opposite) — but if you, the trusty IT person, recommend someone to do X, you better check if the know the things required to even understand what X is.
- thaumasiotes 3y ago
  > I sometimes wonder if they fail to remember a time where it was them that didn't know e.g. what a console actually is and how it can be used To be fair, the reason I'd fail to remember such a time is the same reason that I can't remember anything else from that time. Most people don't remember being a baby. Unless you think knowing the word "console" is the important part there. I would have just said "DOS".
  - atoav 3y ago
    So you learned to use a command line interface when you were a baby? I have been programming for half of my life since I was a teenager, but I can still remember how frustrating it was that some things just were assumed. I still remember when software without a GUI was an unpleasant thing for me, I can still remember struggling to understand how all the web technologies tie together and so on. Understanding that what you know isn't automatically self-evident or obvious even to a person that might be more intelligent than yourself is an important skill in the IT sector if you want to communicate effectively.
    - thaumasiotes 3y ago
      I learned to use a command line interface before I was old enough that I can summon any conscious memories of the time now.† Like I said, "the same reason". I would have been less than three years old. The family computer had Windows, but I would not use it other than to play Solitaire, because it functioned worse than DOS. The default UI was DOS Shell ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DOS_Shell https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DOS_Shell ; the page image there is not a perfect match to our installation, but it's close.), so most often I'd be using what amounted to a very primitive graphical interface, but I would also use straight DOS for reasons I do not recall. † Almost. I vaguely remember the large boards that my mother prepared in order to teach me to read, things like a magazine photograph of a horse juxtaposed with a large letter H, but I don't remember being so instructed, and that memory is subject to later reinforcement because those boards were kept for a long time. But it stands to reason that I would have needed to learn to read before learning to use a computer, so there's a chance some of those board memories predate that knowledge. I can remember my mother singing to me, but there's no way to date those memories precisely. Any memories that still maintain concrete details come from well after I could use a computer.
- lionkor 3y ago
  The majority of programmers wouldn't know how to effectively help a family member understand how to open a commandprompt and enter a command, yet they would all be capable of it. Some even did it before, when thats all computers were! I recommend grabbing a bucket of patience and sitting down with an older but interested non-technical person and telling them to do some normal everyday things on their PC. You will quickly learn to start tutorials with: "First, make sure you have git installed. Then clone this repo by opening a terminal like so: ..."
- hahn-kev 3y ago
  To be fair it depends on the audience. As a dev I don't want to wade through a git tutorial for any project I look at, I already know how to use git. But if your audience isn't other software devs then yeah you should probably start from the beginning. This is why we have installers because no one wants to do the work to install or explain how either.
  - atoav 3y ago
    Yeah of course. This is always a balance. But my observation was that IT people in general tend to lean towards not explaining enough, rather than overexplaining things.
the_duke 3y ago
As the sibling said, you first need to install the wasmer CLI. You need a fairly recent version, so using the install script is recommended. > curl https://get.wasmer.io https://get.wasmer.io -sSfL | sh
jokethrowaway 3y ago
Check the homepage? You can install it with a package manager. I just add wasmer-pack on nixos, I see available wasmer on arch, you can also cargo install wasmer. Or even: $ curl https://get.wasmer.io https://get.wasmer.io -sSfL | sh

by TekMol 3y ago

atoav 3y ago

On a tangent here: many IT people really suck at explaining things from the start. I sometimes wonder if they fail to remember a time where it was them that didn't know e.g. what a console actually is and how it can be used, before giving the person opposite an non-explaination like: "You just have to do $CLI-APPLICATION-TASK" Not that I have anything against command line applications (quite the opposite) — but if you, the trusty IT person, recommend someone to do X, you better check if the know the things required to even understand what X is.

thaumasiotes 3y ago
> I sometimes wonder if they fail to remember a time where it was them that didn't know e.g. what a console actually is and how it can be used To be fair, the reason I'd fail to remember such a time is the same reason that I can't remember anything else from that time. Most people don't remember being a baby. Unless you think knowing the word "console" is the important part there. I would have just said "DOS".
- atoav 3y ago
  So you learned to use a command line interface when you were a baby? I have been programming for half of my life since I was a teenager, but I can still remember how frustrating it was that some things just were assumed. I still remember when software without a GUI was an unpleasant thing for me, I can still remember struggling to understand how all the web technologies tie together and so on. Understanding that what you know isn't automatically self-evident or obvious even to a person that might be more intelligent than yourself is an important skill in the IT sector if you want to communicate effectively.
  - thaumasiotes 3y ago
    I learned to use a command line interface before I was old enough that I can summon any conscious memories of the time now.† Like I said, "the same reason". I would have been less than three years old. The family computer had Windows, but I would not use it other than to play Solitaire, because it functioned worse than DOS. The default UI was DOS Shell ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DOS_Shell https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DOS_Shell ; the page image there is not a perfect match to our installation, but it's close.), so most often I'd be using what amounted to a very primitive graphical interface, but I would also use straight DOS for reasons I do not recall. † Almost. I vaguely remember the large boards that my mother prepared in order to teach me to read, things like a magazine photograph of a horse juxtaposed with a large letter H, but I don't remember being so instructed, and that memory is subject to later reinforcement because those boards were kept for a long time. But it stands to reason that I would have needed to learn to read before learning to use a computer, so there's a chance some of those board memories predate that knowledge. I can remember my mother singing to me, but there's no way to date those memories precisely. Any memories that still maintain concrete details come from well after I could use a computer.
lionkor 3y ago
The majority of programmers wouldn't know how to effectively help a family member understand how to open a commandprompt and enter a command, yet they would all be capable of it. Some even did it before, when thats all computers were! I recommend grabbing a bucket of patience and sitting down with an older but interested non-technical person and telling them to do some normal everyday things on their PC. You will quickly learn to start tutorials with: "First, make sure you have git installed. Then clone this repo by opening a terminal like so: ..."
hahn-kev 3y ago
To be fair it depends on the audience. As a dev I don't want to wade through a git tutorial for any project I look at, I already know how to use git. But if your audience isn't other software devs then yeah you should probably start from the beginning. This is why we have installers because no one wants to do the work to install or explain how either.
- atoav 3y ago
  Yeah of course. This is always a balance. But my observation was that IT people in general tend to lean towards not explaining enough, rather than overexplaining things.

the_duke 3y ago

As the sibling said, you first need to install the wasmer CLI. You need a fairly recent version, so using the install script is recommended. > curl https://get.wasmer.io https://get.wasmer.io -sSfL | sh

jokethrowaway 3y ago

Check the homepage? You can install it with a package manager. I just add wasmer-pack on nixos, I see available wasmer on arch, you can also cargo install wasmer. Or even: $ curl https://get.wasmer.io https://get.wasmer.io -sSfL | sh