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> I am curious who web assembly is for and who is really excited about it.

In particular, I'm curious what web assembly is supposed to be offering that Java applets didn't.

Java applets ran through browser plugins that sidestepped the sandboxed browser environment that keeps users secure on the web. This would be an assembly level compile target for the Javascript VM instead.

How about not requiring a plug-in?

What's the difference between doing a lot of browser development work to add a web assembly VM, and doing the work to add a JVM?

The WebAssembly VM is already there. It's the same VM as is used for JavaScript.

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