> The question in my mind is do we need a language specialized for this?
Based on my experience writing wasm toolchains, I think specialized languages can have big benefits.
Existing languages always have downsides on the web and in wasm. The downsides are worth it when porting existing code, and often for other reasons, but a new toolchain can avoid them.
A specialized language can design its library for wasm, avoiding unnecessary code, like e.g. string formatting and other libc things in C/C++/Rust (unless you are very careful). Almost no language was designed for emitting small binaries like wasm wants - wasm toolchains for them work hard on this, but there is always some friction.
A specialized language can have async APIs like the web requires, avoiding workarounds there. And it can more easily benefit from new wasm features in some cases, like GC: there is work for that in LLVM, which will give some support for C/C++/Rust, but it will be limited - while I'd expect Grain and AssemblyScript etc. to much more easily and greatly benefit.
Of course specialized languages have downsides too, like limited or less efficient non-wasm ports. There is room for both!
Based on my experience writing wasm toolchains, I think specialized languages can have big benefits.
Existing languages always have downsides on the web and in wasm. The downsides are worth it when porting existing code, and often for other reasons, but a new toolchain can avoid them.
A specialized language can design its library for wasm, avoiding unnecessary code, like e.g. string formatting and other libc things in C/C++/Rust (unless you are very careful). Almost no language was designed for emitting small binaries like wasm wants - wasm toolchains for them work hard on this, but there is always some friction.
A specialized language can have async APIs like the web requires, avoiding workarounds there. And it can more easily benefit from new wasm features in some cases, like GC: there is work for that in LLVM, which will give some support for C/C++/Rust, but it will be limited - while I'd expect Grain and AssemblyScript etc. to much more easily and greatly benefit.
Of course specialized languages have downsides too, like limited or less efficient non-wasm ports. There is room for both!