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I would love to see this. But there's two problems with it:

1. Bytecode formats are never completely language independent - there's always a feature or change that would make language X better

2. Browser vendors will never be able to agree on a bytecode format

So, to solve those problems, I've been thinking the following approach might work:

1. Write a JavaScript interpeter for a fairly language-independent bytecode

2. Write some small languages, targeting that bytecode (something for everyone: Haskell-like, C-like, Lisp-like, Forth-like, etc)

3. Hope people start writing more languages to target the bytecode

4. Hope that it's hard for browser vendors to ignore implementing the bytecode natively - for performance reasons

This way we avoid committees and just get it done. Let me know if you think this is a good or bad idea. I'm very willing to work on it.



Agreed. This sounds plausible. Feel free to contact me by email if you need another developer—I’ll offer what time I can—or just a sounding board.


count me in!




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