Re:NUVIA: New Server CPU Startup Going After Intel and AMD
by zamadatix on Sunday November 17, 2019 @05:20PM
(#21560400)
If you're looking for technical details about the virtual machines themselves it's easier to just read their documentation.
If you're looking for what WASM does differently resulting in the JVM not being a good fit it's mostly around browser integration. WASM runs as part of the browser, designed so that the same VM running the JavaScript portions of a page can run the WASM portions without enormous modification. It's also more tightly coupled with the data model of the browser but it doesn't have full direct access to everything, still better than ferrying everything to a second VM.
As for why people are so excited to use it outside of the browser it probably has to do with the level of support and investment around engines like V8 and that it's not designed for a particular language.
If you're looking for what WASM does differently resulting in the JVM not being a good fit it's mostly around browser integration. WASM runs as part of the browser, designed so that the same VM running the JavaScript portions of a page can run the WASM portions without enormous modification. It's also more tightly coupled with the data model of the browser but it doesn't have full direct access to everything, still better than ferrying everything to a second VM.
As for why people are so excited to use it outside of the browser it probably has to do with the level of support and investment around engines like V8 and that it's not designed for a particular language.