[csmantle]

Another important aspect is that, without an external library like `wabt`, I can't just open Notepad, write some inline WASM/WAT in HTML and preview it in a browser, in the same way that HTML+CSS+JS works. Having to obtain a full working toolchain is not very friendly for quick prototyping and demonstrative needs.

[saghm]

The same limitation exists with "non-web" assembly. It turns out that having languages that compile to assembly makes a lot of sense for almost every real-world use case than writing it by hand.

[phickey]

WebAssembly is a compiler target, not a human-authored language. There is exactly one audience of people for writing wat by hand: spec and tutorial authors and readers. Anyone actually developing an application they want to use will use a compiler to produce WebAssembly. Prove me wrong and write Roller Coaster Tycoon in raw wasm if you want, but having written and maintained wasm specs and toolchains for nearly a decade, I will never write any wat outside of a spec or tutorial.

[JoshTriplett]

There is exactly one case where I'd like to write "raw wat" (and for that matter "raw wasm bytecode"): I'd love to do something like the "bootstrappable builds" project for wasm, starting with a simple wat-to-bytecode parser/translator written in raw bytecode, then some tools wirtten in raw wat for bootstrapping into other languages. :)