4 ms·

If my browser supports WebAssembly, I should be able to open my browser, forgo opening any actual web pages, and veer off into WebAssembly-land. From there per

If my browser supports WebAssembly, I should be able to open my browser, forgo opening any actual web pages, and veer off into WebAssembly-land. From there perhaps there should be a package manager that lets me install packages (like Python, Java, Smalltalk, etc ) and switch to some sort of shell or launcher where I can enter a REPL for the selected language package. From there I could do anything.

kibwen 2y ago
If you don't want to open web pages then you wouldn't need to use a browser in the first place. WASM can run outside the context of a browser, so what you're asking for is a shell for running WASM apps.
- lmm 2y ago
  > If you don't want to open web pages then you wouldn't need to use a browser in the first place. WASM can run outside the context of a browser, so what you're asking for is a shell for running WASM apps. No, because corporate wouldn't let me install that :(.
deadbabe 2y ago
Any examples of what you would “do”?
nine_k 2y ago
On one hand, the browser strives to be the universal OS shell, much like a Smalltalk environment before it, and a Lisp environment before that. Everything is scriptable, everything is inspectable, everything is written is a universal high-level language. The browser seems to have everything that's needed, and ChromeOS is basically built on that idea. The limiting factors though are performance and compatibility. Even with a JIT compiler, both JS and WASM are pretty wasteful, resource-wise. Because of that, you cannot just compile MS Excel to WASM; you'd have to bring half of Win32 APIs, DCOM, and tons of libraries to it, too. While technically it's not impossible, the result would be quite sluggish at best. And if you have to run native-code apps anyway, why your Python CLI shouldn't be a native app, too?
- DeathArrow 2y ago
  >On one hand, the browser strives to be the universal OS shell Then there is no need for the browser. We can download an app and run it on a portable VM on any hardware. Or am I missing something? I thought the whole point of the browser was to use HTTP to fetch HTML and CSS and render them. With a few sprinkle of some scripting language to manipulate the DOM and make things interactive when needed. But why would still need a browser if everything becomes an app? Another layer of abstraction and virtualisation will just waste time and incur hardware costs.
- wiseowise 2y ago
  You cannot just compile MS Excel to WASM, because it is a legacy enterprise monstrosity.
xvilka 2y ago
It already exists. It's called desktop.

kibwen 2y ago

If you don't want to open web pages then you wouldn't need to use a browser in the first place. WASM can run outside the context of a browser, so what you're asking for is a shell for running WASM apps.

lmm 2y ago
> If you don't want to open web pages then you wouldn't need to use a browser in the first place. WASM can run outside the context of a browser, so what you're asking for is a shell for running WASM apps. No, because corporate wouldn't let me install that :(.

deadbabe 2y ago

Any examples of what you would “do”?

nine_k 2y ago

On one hand, the browser strives to be the universal OS shell, much like a Smalltalk environment before it, and a Lisp environment before that. Everything is scriptable, everything is inspectable, everything is written is a universal high-level language. The browser seems to have everything that's needed, and ChromeOS is basically built on that idea. The limiting factors though are performance and compatibility. Even with a JIT compiler, both JS and WASM are pretty wasteful, resource-wise. Because of that, you cannot just compile MS Excel to WASM; you'd have to bring half of Win32 APIs, DCOM, and tons of libraries to it, too. While technically it's not impossible, the result would be quite sluggish at best. And if you have to run native-code apps anyway, why your Python CLI shouldn't be a native app, too?

DeathArrow 2y ago
>On one hand, the browser strives to be the universal OS shell Then there is no need for the browser. We can download an app and run it on a portable VM on any hardware. Or am I missing something? I thought the whole point of the browser was to use HTTP to fetch HTML and CSS and render them. With a few sprinkle of some scripting language to manipulate the DOM and make things interactive when needed. But why would still need a browser if everything becomes an app? Another layer of abstraction and virtualisation will just waste time and incur hardware costs.
wiseowise 2y ago
You cannot just compile MS Excel to WASM, because it is a legacy enterprise monstrosity.

xvilka 2y ago

It already exists. It's called desktop.