blog-2024-01-10

> **missing the point of webassembly**
> 
> I find most descriptions of WebAssembly to be uninspiring: if you start with a phrase like “assembly-like language” or a “virtual machine”, we have already lost the plot. That’s not to say that these descriptions are incorrect, but it’s like explaining what a dog is by starting with its circulatory system. You’re not wrong, but you should probably lead with the bark.
> 
> I have a different preferred starting point which is less descriptive but more operational: WebAssembly is a new fundamental abstraction boundary. WebAssembly is a new way of dividing computing systems into pieces and of composing systems from parts.
> ...
> Like the Linux syscall interface, WebAssembly defines an interface language in which programs rely on host capabilities to access system features. Like the C ABI, calling into WebAssembly code has a predictable low cost. Like HTTP, you can arrange for WebAssembly code to have no shared state with its host, by construction.

read: http://wingolog.org/archives/2024/01/08/missing-the-point-of-webassembly

tags: [wingolog] [WebAssembly]

edited by: stefs at Tuesday, January 9, 2024, 11:09:19 PM Coordinated Universal Time


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