Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

No, it is not a good idea for backend where your processes and code are trusted because it does not come for free (it comes with a big performance penalty).

Mixing languages does not require WASM in native code either. It has always been done through the C ABI.




No process nor code is trusted in my company. The performance penalty is negligible compared to the multi-million risks, and WASM execution can be optimized a lot as it goes past MVP.

I don't know how to import a ES6 module using C ABI.


> No process nor code is trusted in my company.

Then you cannot use any modern computer in your company. Much less hypercomplex systems like Node, v8 and JITs in general.

> compared to the multi-million risks

What "risks"? What standards are you following? Insurance?

> WASM execution can be optimized a lot as it goes past MVP.

Citation needed. There is no magic.

> I don't know how to import a ES6 module using C ABI.

So that is why you want WASM?


V8, JVM, CLR and others are well proven runtimes providing a well functioning sandbox, but of course we test a lot. I am sure you know what the risks are with native code - you're a native code proponent after all; any code running in a medium and bigger company that could misplace money is a huge liability.

I don't know what magic you're talking about - we're simply waiting for WASM to standardize GC, SIMD, tail calls etc, you can read more here[0]; and to get the execution optimized like V8 did over the past 10 years[1] (WASM on V8 gets most of these gains by default as a bonus).

I already said why I want WASM: because it provides a good sandbox and opens most ecosystems through safe and typed interop. I don't care about ES modules in particular - I care about ES modules, Ruby modules, Python modules, Prolog modules, Fortran modules, C modules, Rust modules, AssemblyScript modules, COBOL modules, Erlang modules, F# modules, Java modules, and so on - at once. Finally a future where I can use and trust any library and not get limited to the language I use (if I don't want to spend most of my time fighting and securing C ABI interop, if at all humanly possible) is there.

[0] https://github.com/WebAssembly/proposals

[1] https://v8.dev/blog/10-years#performance-ups-and-downs




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: