Session

The Return of Write Once, Run Anywhere

Tyler McMullen - Fastly

Let’s talk about the history, current state, and future of Wasm outside of the browser. We’ll talk technical details and community effects that make this not just viable, but super valuable. And how it all ties together into a future that gives us the freedom to run code where and how we want to.

WebAssembly outside of the browser doesn’t have a long history, but it does have a fascinating one. Early prototypes and projects led us down multiple paths which have now generally converged into a vision for the future which promises developments that haven’t been possible until today.

But this isn’t a history lesson. We’ll get into what it is about core WebAssembly that makes it interesting outside of the browser. Then we’ll talk about more recent proposals and projects like the Component Model and WASI, as well as some core proposals and how they affect the world we’re moving into.

Finally, we’ll talk about the emergent effects that arise from the community working toward a common goal and paint a picture of what we believe will be a better world for developers in the near future