Comment by eqrion | Hacker News Reader

Comment by eqrion | Hacker News Reader

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> If you compile them to GC wasm instead of running directly in JS then you're just adding unnecessary overheads for no upside

Language portability is a big feature. There's a lot of code that's not JS out there. And JS isn't a great compilation target for a lot of languages. Google switched to compiling Java to Wasm-GC instead of JS and got a lot of memory/speed improvements.

> Because for example if a browser changes the type of something that happens to be unused, or removes something that happens to be unused, it only breaks actual users at time of use, not potential users at time of load. > The largest comparable platform is OSes based on C ABI, which rely on a "kind" of dynamic typing (stringly typed, basically - function names in a global namespace plus argument passing ABIs that allow you to mismatch function signature and get away with it.

I don't think any Web API exposed directly to Wasm would have a single fixed ABI for that reason. We'd need to have the user request a type signature (through the import), and have the browser maximally try and satisfy the import using coercions that respect API evolution and compat. This is what Web IDL/JS does, and I don't see why we couldn't have that in Wasm too.

> Then what's your excuse for why wasm, despite years of investment, is a dud on the web?

Wasm is not a dud on the web. Almost 6% of page loads use wasm [1]. It's used in a bunch of major applications and libraries.

[1] https://chromestatus.com/metrics/feature/timeline/popularity...

I still think we can do better though. Wasm is way too complicated to use today. So users of wasm today are experts who either (a) really need the performance or (b) really need cross platform code. So much that they're willing to put up with the rough edges.

And so far, most investment has been to improve the performance or bootstrap new languages. Which is great, but if the devex isn't improved, there won't be mass adoption.

> Language portability is a big feature. There's a lot of code that's not JS out there. And JS isn't a great compilation target for a lot of languages. Google switched to compiling Java to Wasm-GC instead of JS and got a lot of memory/speed improvements.

It's also worth noting that Wasm wasn't born into a vacuum like JS was (and Java for that matter), so it is competing[1] in a crowded space. Wasm is making inroads into languages that already have well-developed toolchains and ecosystems like Java, Kotlin, Rust, Scala, and Go. I think the Wasm network effect is happening, it is just very slow because it's primarily been a deployment platform and not a development platform.

It's also worth noting that Wasm advancement is pretty decentralized and there are a lot of competing interests, particularly outside the web. Basically every other language had at least one massive investment in both language development and tooling from the get-go. Java=sun, C#=Microsoft, Go=Google, JavaScript=browsers, Scala=foundation, etc.

[1] "competing" only in the sense of adding value over the mainstream or mainline implementations of these languages.

> Wasm is way too complicated to use today. So users of wasm today are experts who either (a) really need the performance or (b) really need cross platform code. So much that they're willing to put up with the rough edges.

I believe we can do better; we've been counting on languages that come to Wasm as a secondary deployment strategy and have their primary devex focused on another platform where then can debug better and offer better tooling.

> Language portability is a big feature.

It's a big feature of JS. JS's dynamism makes it super easy to target for basically any language.

> Google switched to compiling Java to Wasm-GC instead of JS and got a lot of memory/speed improvements.

That's cool. But that's one giant player getting success out of a project that likely required massive investment and codesign with their browser team.

Think about how sad it is that these are the kinds of successes you have to cite for a technology that has had as much investment as wasm!

> Almost 6% of page loads use wasm

You can disable wasm and successfully load more than 94% of websites.

A lot of that 6% is malicious ads running bitcoin mining.

> Wasm is way too complicated to use today.

I'm articulating why it's complicated. I think that for those same reasons, it will continue to be complicated

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