Notices by Axel Rauschmayer (rauschma@fosstodon.org)

WebAssembly as an ecosystem for programming languages
https://2ality.com/2025/01/webassembly-language-ecosystem.html

#WebAssembly #2ality

It’s a shame that JavaScript still has no built-in support for equality checks and that its support for cloning (not part of ECMAScript, but supported by virtually all platforms) has significant limitations—e.g., the clone of an instance of C is not an instance of C:

class C {}
const clone = structuredClone(new C());

assert.equal(clone instanceof C, false);
assert.equal(
Object.getPrototypeOf(clone),
Object.prototype
);

More information: https://2ality.com/2022/01/structured-clone.html

#JavaScript

Short survey: What languages do you use to compile to #WebAssembly?
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd5rDVpwMsh0qtGHxvtAMGgc84sIoj9_H8_UBqbs6mH_2i1Vg/viewform?usp=dialog

I’ll publish the results on January 1.

:mastodon: Boosts appreciated!

@functionalscript But if your user handle is a domain name (where a TXT record mentions the current server) then moving to another server is completely transparent.

One could also do a simple form of content-addressing:
my-server.example/@user.example/12345

Such a URL could be routed to the correct server via the user handle. Then the path would work on every server. For complete transparency, one could use a domain that points to the current server.

That would be good enough for my needs.

@functionalscript
For me it’s mostly about avoiding lock-in. And the Fediverse does that well enough (for my taste). Hopefully, it’ll eventually support domains or URLs as user handles. Which shouldn’t be too difficult(?)

But there is definitely room for something even more decentralized—especially for people who have a high risk of being censored such as dissidents of totalitarian regimes. Such a solution will have different pros and different cons.

@silverpill That makes sense! Per-server caching significantly lessens the load.

One remaining challenge is replies, profile data etc. being incomplete and/or out of date (you are working on that, IIRC). Thanks to per-server caching that shouldn’t cause too much additional traffic.

@serapath From what I know about Bluesky’s team, I believe that their intentions are good.

But, eventually, they’ll have to make money.

Upside: People have moved once (from Twitter to Bluesky). Moving again is going to be much easier and the Fediverse isn’t going anywhere.

Only potential downside of ActivityPub that isn’t relatively easy to fix: It *may* not scale as well—no one knows at the moment. I’m curious: Could AP handle (e.g.) Taylor Swift joining the Fediverse?

Bluesky says that: “Never lose access to your followers or data.”

However, I don’t think that’s true. Can someone confirm?

Even in a scenario where there are multiple Relay/AppView/Labeler services, if you move to a different service:
• You can only follow a user if their PDS is crawled by your service.
• A user can only follow you if your PDS is crawled by their service.

Are there any #JavaScript projects you’d like to draw attention to? Reply to this post!
👉 Mention *why* others may find it interesting.

(I’ll boost as much as I can without overwhelming my followers.)

Tips for finding interesting #Fediverse accounts: https://2ality.com/2022/10/mastodon-getting-started.html#finding-accounts

1/ One reason why I now self-publish: control over my writing.

O’Reilly on using AI for translations, the “Answers” bot, etc.: “Remember, if your contract […] is royalty-bearing, we have the exclusive right to leverage the intellectual property you created with us to produce derivative works. We plan to maintain the transparency offered within those contracts and provide complete credit and remuneration for your work with any adoption of AI that creates adaptations of it in the future.”

29 years ago today (1995-12-04): “Netscape and Sun announce JavaScript, the open, cross-platform object scripting language for enterprise networks and the internet”
https://web.archive.org/web/20070916144913/http://wp.netscape.com/newsref/pr/newsrelease67.html

#JavaScript

@functionalscript The biggest challenge with social networks: There are not only technical problems but also people problems. And those are really difficult—e.g., as a woman you can have a really bad time on social networks. AFAICT that’s why many women don’t use headshots as avatars.

One thing that I’d find very useful is built-in support for ActivityPub in Bluesky.

@SocketSecurity I wish the narrative were less one-sided: Who evaluates the efficiency of managers and investors and how much money they get? Who evaluates *why* people are quiet-quitting? Happy employees usually don’t.

If iPadOS were as open as macOS, iPads would rival Macs with regard to versatility. Right now, I can’t use an iPad because it doesn’t have:
– Homebrew
– Terminal
– Visual Studio Code

File and window management could also be improved but that’s much less important.

It would be great to have Mac-like power with the option of touch input.

But I’m not holding my breath. It currently seems more likely that I’ll eventually switch completely over to Linux.

I have similar thoughts about most big tech companies: Tech has lost its way. It used to genuinely improve people’s lives. Now it’s often about ads and tricking people into using tech even more. Tech is looking for a way to go uphill, even though it’s already reached an impressive peak.

Most tech visions involve ever more sensors, machines and automation. And I don’t find that appealing at all. My vision for us is: simpler lives, less consumption, more free time, more nature in cities.

Apple’s trajectory makes me sad: I used to root for the company because they are doing a lot of things right: tech as something that has to be useful, focus on accessibility, etc.

But it’s become clear how cut-throat, greedy and anti-user they are. Their devices could be much more repairable (incl. fewer design changes over the years) and be supported much longer. They treat developers awfully too.

And I’m not anti-corporate. Companies are not evil per se. Linux has its own set of issues!

@functionalscript Interesting. I’d have thought you’d need a protocol on top of CAS for moderation and managing/distributing data.

@functionalscript Quoting the post: “Some of these tasks are quite feasible for the fediverse to pick up today: the content-addressed storage and the portable identity stuff I think would be a major thing to introduce into the system but would be quite doable and would give the fediverse properties of surviving nodes going down better.”

@functionalscript You may enjoy this blog post (see section “What should the fediverse do?”): https://dustycloud.org/blog/how-decentralized-is-bluesky/