WASM Does Not Stand for WebAssembly
(thunderseethe.dev)2 points by swernli 7 hours ago
2 points by swernli 7 hours ago
To be fair, as the author points out, they did it to themselves to get coverage to work on the project. The name means that WASM can be used in a big way on the web, but I appreciate the perspective that it’s applicable to way more than just the web. Even if the article title is definitely exaggerated for effect in service of that point.
This is probably my biggest regret with this article. Much earlier and much more prominently I should've explained that the title is a play on a running joke Andreas Rossberg includes in a couple of his talks "wasm does not stand for webassembly", poking fun at how they named it that to get funding, but always intended it for a more general use case.
I have a nod to it, as you point out, but I think its buried so far beneath the fold most folks have checked out and written it off by then. Live and learn .
This reminds me of the 'hacker' definition that comes up from time-to-time. Like the term hacker, that ship has already sailed.
WASM is WebAssembly.