
Future of JavaScript vs. WebAssembly. Will JavaScript Co-Exist? - rammy1234
Is webassembly will replace javascript by being the target runtime for browsers upon. I am new and got introduced to webassembly recently and I am wondering what is the roadmap for javascript
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krapp
No.

First, removing javascript support in browsers would deprecate the
functionality of all of the JS code currently running on the web, which would
by extension _break the web_ for almost everyone. So, if only for the sake of
backwards compatibility, browsers _must_ support javascript for the forseeable
future.

Second, the WebAssembly project's own FAQ[0] states that "WebAssembly is
designed to be a complement to, not replacement of, JavaScript."

Third, compiling languages to WebAssembly will always be a more complex
process than writing javascript - although I state that with the caveat that a
lot of javascript is, itself, compiled or transpiled nowadays, because that's
not actually necessary. Having a text based, interpreted scripting language
running in the browser provides a degree of convenience and simplicity that
WebAssembly can't directly replicate. To me, this indicates that javascript
won't even be implemented as something like a WebAssembly module by default,
although that is possible.

Plenty of people do plan to try as hard as they can to replace javascript with
languages that compile to WebAssembly, and it will probably replace the
paradigm of languages "compiling to javascript" as it provides an actual
bytecode instead of pretending javascript is bytecode, but like it or not
javascript isn't going away anytime soon.

[0][http://webassembly.org/docs/faq/](http://webassembly.org/docs/faq/)

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rammy1234
detailed one. thanks. will have to read more on the compelling reasons for
Webassembly and Browser Engines are going to support them in parallel with
Javascript. thanks for the link.

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bobajeff
JavaScript is still being developed. Browser makers are not slowing down on
adding JavaScript features. There is even a Binary AST proposal for
JavaScript.

