[lmm]

> How would programming in C++ be less pain than programming in JS / HTML / CSS? At the very least, JS code won't write past array bounds, or smash the stack.

A native ABI doesn't mean you have to use C++ though. I can use Qt from Python if I like, or even from the JVM (slightly fiddlier, but doable). I can't do that with the browser.

> nobody distributed them for free, as Netscape did with the browser. They also notably lacked any protections against untrusted code.

The JVM avoids both those problems though - it had a robust security model and was distributed for free. What killed it was that corporations refused to install Java Web Start on their computers because it's a scary "application runtime". But they would happily install web browsers because that's just a "document viewer". Even though they both do the same thing!

[manwe150]

I believe that aforementioned “robust security model” was removed several years ago due to issues with its actual robustness https://openjdk.org/jeps/411

[lmm]

If you read your link, it was removed largely because the things that used it (such as Java Web Start) had been removed, which was more because they failed in the market than because its actual security record was particularly poor.

(Yes, there were occasional sandbox escapes, but there are occasional sandbox escapes in web browsers too. Few security mechanisms are perfect)

[YetAnotherNick]

> A native ABI doesn't mean you have to use C++ though. I can use Qt from Python if I like, or even from the JVM (slightly fiddlier, but doable). I can't do that with the browser.

wasm is that ABI for browser. Yes it would make everything bit slower, but I am fine given a lot more added security.

[lmm]

If we reach the point where a WASM-only app is a first-class citizen and I can write an app that doesn't have to touch HTML/CSS/JS (doing the UI with canvas or whatever), I'll be happy. We're not there yet though.

[nine_k]

See where Google Flutter is heading.

[nine_k]

Funnily, if you look at memory consumption of a Qt app, especially a PyQT app, sometimes it can easily compare to that of an Electron app.

(No, not all of them, of course.)