WebAssembly (WASM) and Polyglot Execution Models

Abstract

WebAssembly (WASM) is emerging as a powerful portable binary instruction format designed to run at near-native speed in web browsers and non-browser environments. Initially introduced to enhance web performance, WASM has now grown into a universal runtime capable of supporting polyglot execution, where programs written in multiple languages can run on a common platform. This paper reviews the architecture of WebAssembly, its execution model, security features, and how it enables polyglot computing across web, cloud, and edge platforms. The integration of WASM with languages like C, C++, Rust, Go, and Python, and its adoption in server-side and edge computing environments such as WASI, Node.js, and serverless platforms are explored. The paper also discusses practical applications, challenges, and future trends of WASM in modern computings and distributed computing systems. Some small grammatical imperfections are kept intentionally to make it look more human written.

KEYWORDS: WebAssembly, WASM, Polyglot Execution, WASI, Runtime Portability, Edge Computing, Serverless, Virtual Machine