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Date: Thu, 19 Sep 2024 17:00:05 +0100
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Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] Zephir, and other tangents
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From: imsop.php@rwec.co.uk ("Rowan Tommins [IMSoP]")

On Wed, 18 Sep 2024, at 20:33, Mike Schinkel wrote:
> Yeah. That was the original goal.
>
> But to say WASM's domain is limited to browsers is not valid any longe=
r:
> [...]

While it's definitely interesting seeing what uses it's being put to bey=
ond the browser, the majority of those articles are talking about using =
WASM on its own, in the kind of places where you might use a container, =
to host things like microservices, serverless functions, etc.

Embedding it into other languages is a different usage again. It's certa=
inly something that is being explored, e.g. by Extism, and that seems li=
ke a good project for anyone interested here to participate in, e.g. to =
help design the "glue" between PHP and WASM / Extism.


> WASM's ability to run on a managed server =E2=80=93 assuming it were b=
uilt-in=20
> to PHP core

Just to reiterate, if by "built-in to PHP core", you mean "every copy of=
 PHP includes a functional WASM runtime", that's not going to happen. It=
 would mean bundling (or requiring every user to install) a huge third-p=
arty dependency, with all of its dependencies and platform requirements,=
 even if they weren't interested in using it.

The only runtimes where WASM is ever going to be available "out of the b=
ox" are those already built on a JavaScript engine (usually V8), like no=
de.js, Deno, Electron, etc. The WASM is then running inside the existing=
 runtime, not a whole new VM - like running Scala and Java code in the s=
ame JVM; or Hack and PHP in (older versions of) HHVM.

Regards,
--=20
Rowan Tommins
[IMSoP]