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Comment by pjmlp | Hacker News Reader

It is incredible how with so much Java hate, the WASM folks are doing their best to replicate everything we had in 2005.

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Java still doesn't have value types AFAIK. Meanwhile WASM started out as no-gc continuous memory VM.

Comparing WASM and JVM is like comparing a truck and a bus because they are relatively the same size, move at the same speed etc.

I mean sure you can load people in trucks and cargo into buses - and both have been done with JVM (eg. people built C compilers) and WASM (people are building GCed runtimes on top of it despite lack of GC support from platform).

Almost 30 years later nobody sane is running C on JVM and there were many attempts posted here over the years.

Nobody sane should be running C, regardless of the target platform.

You'd have to delete your operating system and most of your libraries.

Thankfully not all OS are written in C, and many are making efforts to fix that mistake created by UNIX release into the industry.

Similarly, many managed compiled languages don't depend on C.

Finally, cybersecurity legislation will speed those efforts.

Outside of the kernel it's a lot more C++ than C

Sure, this fits the way software evolves on the circle of dumb. It goes something like this: What a great idea!... (a little later) Hmmm. That's a problem... (later) We need something to run apps in the browser. I wonder if WASM would work... (now) What a great idea!...

Software development always goes in cycles. "Apps" were great now maybe not so much so...

In the late 80s/early 90s, the CEO of ETA Systems (a supercomputer company) had a vision that by 2000, the world would be split between supercomputers and workstations. I have seen some evidence that people are considerng that once again... The Circle of Dumb is always with us in software land.

As long as it's refining and making at least some progress then it's more of a helix than a circle

I see it as more of a conical spiral, like water going down a drain.

Honestly, I just think Java was ahead of its time. I hated sites with applets because they felt slow to startup and run. That problem is long gone with modern computers.

We are not replicating Oracle’s lawyers, sales agreements and non-disclosure policies.

The hate against Oracle is beautiful, when WASM only exists due to politics against PNaCL, and without Microsoft, Google and Apple there is no WASM standard anyway.

All angel companies that do no evil.

2005? Maybe 1996. That's when I ran (and wrote) my first applet.

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