> I think cross compilation has gotten a lot better so there is basically no need for [bytecode] today.
Have you never written a plugin or a mod?
Yes, AOT and cross-compilation are very good nowadays. This only replaces one of bytecode's features.
As soon as you AOT compile CLR or JVM languages, you lose access to the stable, feature-complete ABI that bytecode provides. Heck, many languages built from the ground up for static compilation like Go and Rust still have dismal ABI stories. The only exception I can think of is Swift, and it didn't come by it easily. AOT also imposes limits on reflection and runtime codegen (often, to the point of totally removing them).
If your software exists only in a walled garden, only gets deployed to infrastructure you 100% control, can't be extended at all, and/or can only be extended by full recompilation, then bytecode may seem useless. But that isn't the whole world of software.
Have you never written a plugin or a mod?
Yes, AOT and cross-compilation are very good nowadays. This only replaces one of bytecode's features.
As soon as you AOT compile CLR or JVM languages, you lose access to the stable, feature-complete ABI that bytecode provides. Heck, many languages built from the ground up for static compilation like Go and Rust still have dismal ABI stories. The only exception I can think of is Swift, and it didn't come by it easily. AOT also imposes limits on reflection and runtime codegen (often, to the point of totally removing them).
If your software exists only in a walled garden, only gets deployed to infrastructure you 100% control, can't be extended at all, and/or can only be extended by full recompilation, then bytecode may seem useless. But that isn't the whole world of software.