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This is probably the best thing that can happen to web development.

For quite a while, I've been thinking about how instead of hacks like asm.js, we should be pushing an actual "Web IR" which would actually be designed from the ground up as an IR language. Something similar to PNaCl (a subset of LLVM IR), except divorced from the Chrome sandbox, really.

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I think that's what lots of people have thought since the 90s with Java applets. Despite ES6 and "it's not that bad", there's a lot of people that would really like to not have to deal with JS.

Edit: Really, it's annoying this didn't happen sooner. If Microsoft would have thought of this early on and pushed it, they could have gained a lead in compilers and developer tools, for instance.

asm.js made wasm possible by creating a solid compatibility story and evolutionary path.

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