No one is saying you should do your whole application in WASM though, it's really just like native extensions in any dynamic language: of course, you're not going to get GC or interaction with dynamic parts of the language in your extension, but the reason might be:
- libraries written in another language, such as SQL.js
- hot spots of an application that can benefit from fast number crunching (e.g., gaming, visualization)
- truly cross-platform at native performance
etc.
I don't think anyone serious enough to use WASM in their application is making the assumption of using wasm will make all your stuff faster. It won't. It's just another performance tool, with its benefits subject to performance methodologies.
Sidebar: Google Doc is an interesting application in this perspective, given they render the entire application in a canvas, and the application itself is probably not written in JS. I'm excited what the future holds for tools like Google Doc.
I understand all that. I have been writing compilers for more than 10 years, including the compiler of Scala.js. I am not criticizing wasm nor its benefits.
What I profoundly dislike is that such good articles about wasm, written by excellent technical people, all silently ignore that. I am absolutely certain that the authors know all about it, but they don't mention that to their audience, which, for the majority, doesn't know. Therefore, that very silence (not just glossing over, but actual silence) brings misinformation to the masses.
- libraries written in another language, such as SQL.js
- hot spots of an application that can benefit from fast number crunching (e.g., gaming, visualization)
- truly cross-platform at native performance
etc.
I don't think anyone serious enough to use WASM in their application is making the assumption of using wasm will make all your stuff faster. It won't. It's just another performance tool, with its benefits subject to performance methodologies.
Sidebar: Google Doc is an interesting application in this perspective, given they render the entire application in a canvas, and the application itself is probably not written in JS. I'm excited what the future holds for tools like Google Doc.