[flohofwoe]

> Didn't it start with asm.js

It started even much earlier. At first Emscripten compiled to a plain Javascript subset, after this demonstrated 'usefulness' this JS subset was properly specificed into 'asm.js' which browsers could specifically target and optimize for. The next evolutionary step was WASM (which didn't immediately bring any peformance improvements over asm.js, but allowed further improvements without having to 'compromise' Javascript with features that are only useful for a compilation target).

[pjmlp]

Even earlier, it started with NaCL, then PNaCL. With an SDK that supported C, C++ and OCaml.

Mozzilla not wanting to jump into Google's boat came up with asm.js.

This naturally ignoring all the other plugins.