Re: Web versions

[Jacob Bachmeyer]

Jean Louis wrote:
> * Jacob Bachmeyer <jcb62281@gmail.com> [2021-03-17 05:16]:
>   
> > Alfred M. Szmidt wrote:
> >     
> > >        2.  Browsers do not offer POSIX API to JS/WebAssembly for very
> > > good    reasons.
> > >
> > > The other issue is that it wouldn't really be an operating system, if
> > > it runs in a web browser.  Which kinda is the whol point of the GNU
> > > project. :-)
> > >       
> > The GNU project also provides some application software.  Octave or Emacs,
> > to name two examples, could usefully be offered as "run this in your
> > browser" in addition to the regular native ports, but general lower
> > performance and Web security policies are likely to make browser ports of
> > packages like R and libGMP useful only as demonstrations.
> >     
>
> Webassembly's performance is according to the reference about 10% less
> than native.
> code. https://www.usenix.org/conference/atc19/presentation/jangda
>
> In the sense I don't think that argument "lower performance" stands
> there.
>   

Considering that absolute maximum performance is one of libGMP's goals, 
yes, lower performance is an issue.  Last I checked, they were looking 
for a way to perform multiplications with operands on disk that are too 
large to fit in memory and they have multiple assembler variants of the 
same low-level routines for different processors.

> I would like to have Emacs in Webassembly. Somebody is already working
> in that direction with Emacs fork: https://github.com/emacs-ng/emacs-ng
>
> Regarding "web security policies, I would not know what it means.
>   

Rules like the same-origin policy and the other browser sandbox rules 
that limit the harm that can be done by "Web" programs to the user.  
These rules, for example, could make using a browser-based R difficult 
because it might not be able to connect and retrieve public datasets.

> If there is Emacs in Webassembly, it gives me freedom to operate my
> business remotely. Security is provided by SSL and username/password
> related to the database that I would access.

...until the cybercafe computer you used to access your server turns out 
to have been recording your keystrokes and now Mallory also has your 
username/password...


-- Jacob