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HTMLHelp Forums _ Off Topic _ WebAssembly becomes a W3C Recommendation

Posted by: Christian J Dec 8 2019, 11:02 AM

Following HTML, CSS and JavaScript, WebAssembly becomes the fourth language for the Web which allows code to run in the browser:
https://www.w3.org/2019/12/pressrelease-wasm-rec.html.en

Recent Study Estimates That 50% of Websites Using WebAssembly Apply It for Malicious Purposes:
https://www.infoq.com/news/2019/10/WebAssembly-wasm-malicious-usage/

Posted by: pandy Mar 4 2020, 10:28 PM

I had missed this thread. I, of course, blame the forum since as everyone knows I am impeccable.

I looked a little at https://webassembly.org/ . Does this thing really run in the browser?

Posted by: pandy Mar 4 2020, 10:32 PM

Uh, partly, I guess. This sounds complicated and makes me think of Java applets.

CODE

A JavaScript API is provided which allows JavaScript to compile WebAssembly modules, perform limited reflection on compiled modules, store and retrieve compiled modules from offline storage, instantiate compiled modules with JavaScript imports, call the exported functions of instantiated modules, alias the exported memory of instantiated modules, etc.

https://webassembly.org/docs/web/

Posted by: Christian J Mar 5 2020, 07:42 AM

What's not clear to me is if browser users will be able to decompile and inspect the code, or if we're just supposed to accept running unknown programs from web sites?

Posted by: pandy Mar 5 2020, 08:07 AM

If they have a decompiler. And if it's possible to download the compiled program (or whatever it is).

Here you have it, WebAssarmbly to C decompiler. So one assumes the compiled things are written in C then.
https://github.com/wwwg/wasmdec
From the look of it I think you also need Linux or similar.

Posted by: Christian J Mar 5 2020, 12:01 PM

Found this:

QUOTE

Will WebAssembly support View Source on the Web?

Yes! WebAssembly defines a text format to be rendered when developers view the source of a WebAssembly module in any developer tool. Also, a specific goal of the text format is to allow developers to write WebAssembly modules by hand for testing, experimenting, optimizing, learning and teaching purposes.
https://webassembly.org/docs/faq/

Of course you need to understand the source you're viewing as well...

Posted by: pandy Mar 5 2020, 09:21 PM

Yeah, but that goes for the existing three languages as well. Most people don't.

Posted by: Christian J Mar 6 2020, 07:24 AM

True, but a lot more understand at least a little HTML.

Also it seems WASM is intended for very large script files, making it even harder to decipher even if you know the language. But of course that problem already exists with to today's javascript libraries. Better to block all of it from even downloading.