We also have Python bytecode.

One thing that sets Wasm [1] apart is that, the Wasm virtual machine is significantly lower-level than JVM, .NET or python virtual machine.

That makes it a better target for compiling C but also means different code bases will have to implement such things as strings, dictionaries, sets, etc. themselves, and that means it will be harder to combine multiple libraries in a single Wasm binary.

[1] I think they already lost that war, but that’s what the spec says it should be capitalised. https://www.w3.org/TR/2025/CRD-wasm-core-2-20250616/: “A contraction of “WebAssembly”, not an acronym, hence not using all-caps”

yeah on the surface it looks like just another bytecode. but wasm wasn’t some pointless nih thing, it actually filled a gap: a secure, standardized, vendor neutral format for the web that isn’t chained to orcle, microsoft, or anyone’s private stack.