Extreme JavaScript Performance; John Resig on Ars
Ars Technica has a new columnist, John Resig. His first piece is on Extreme JavaScript Performance which has started to come to us in abundance recently!
His article focuses on the latest updates to the fish, SquirrelFish Extreme:
A popular technique that is gaining traction amongst JavaScript engine implementers is that of optimizing the engine, while it’s still processing the JavaScript code, to determine the “type” of the object that is being used. Since JavaScript doesn’t include any sort of explicit type system JavaScript engines are frequently forced to check and re-check the values that they are handling, to insure their integrity. SFX rounds out the collection of other modern JavaScript engines, namely V8 and TraceMonkey, to provide this form of polymorphic inline caching. Interestingly, the idea for this form of caching comes from the Self programming language, the origin of many of the ideas in JavaScript (such as using prototypal inheritance instead of the more-common classical form of object inheritance seen in languages like Java).
JavaScript engines are serving as the test bed for new forms of dynamic language optimization. No other language is seeing this level of competition and rapid improvement that JavaScript is. This is optimal considering that JavaScript is one of the most widely-deployed programming languages available.
The SquirrelFish Extreme release currently stands as the fastest JavaScript engine [based on SunSpider] (although that’s certain to change as healthy competition continues).
Source: Ajaxian » Front Page
Original Article: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ajaxian/~3/414660959/extreme-javascript-performance-john-resig-on-ars