Safari To Get JavaScript Speed Enhancements

[MacRumors]

The WebKit project announced this week a new and improved JavaScript interpreter, code-named SquirrelFish.

SquirrelFish promises 1.6 times faster JavaScript interpreting as compared to Webkit/Safari 3.1. This is accomplished by using "a register-based, direct-threaded, high-level bytecode engine" which aims to eliminate the overhead associated with traditional syntax tree walking interpreters like the one currently used in Safari 3.1.x.

SunSpider runs per minute. Image courtesy webkit.org

The introduction of the open-source effort means the improvements will almost certainly be propagated into Apple's Safari web browser, however the timing is unknown.

Of note, Safari 3.1 saw dramatic speed improvements over 3.0.x, indicating Apple has been and continues to be actively engaged in Safari/WebKit JavaScript performance.

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[epanov]

I am not really technical and stuff. What exactly will this do for the user?

 

[arn]

I am not really technical and stuff. What exactly will this do for the user?

um... makes Javascript go faster. which is used on many websites.

arn

 

[longofest]

um... makes Javascript go faster. which is used on many websites.

arn

you resisted it with all your might, didn't you....


the real answer, of course, is: it will make Safari snappier™

 

[solipsism]

In March WebKit made page load faster by reducing latency by allowing side parsers to run when the main parser gets held up. WebKit is also fastr than other browsers with heavy JS becasue they already parse JS much more efficiently. This rocks!

• http://webkit.org/blog/166/optimizing-page-loading-in-web-browser/​

I am not really technical and stuff. What exactly will this do for the user?

If a web browser can parse code more efficiently then your page will render faster.

 

[peedub]

this is something to look forward to i guess... but where the heck do they come up with these names? SquirrelFish? haha what were they thinking?

 

[Beric]

you resisted it with all your might, didn't you....


the real answer, of course, is: it will make Safari snappier™

Please oh please.

MY only question was how low of a post-number in this topic would a "snappier Safari" get mentioned. Apparently on post #4.

 

[Matthew Yohe]

this is all you need to know:

 

[DMann]

this is something to look forward to i guess... but where the heck do they come up with these names? SquirrelFish? haha what were they thinking?

speed-Speed-SPEED.

By comparison, Longhorn seems less effective.

 

[solipsism]

but where the heck do they come up with these names? SquirrelFish? haha what were they thinking?

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squirrelfish​

 

[Mac OS X Ocelot]

I have JavaScript turned off in Safari. Webpages take much, much less time loading now. I'm learning to live without it entirely.

 

[RTee]

good stuff!

 

[Squid7085]

Oh, how about Flash speed and stability first. That would be nice. The web seems to be seeing flash as the future, yet when my PowerBook visits a site with even a flash ad on it, I feel as if my machine is about to take off and leave my lap.

 

[arn]

Oh, how about Flash speed and stability first. That would be nice. The web seems to be seeing flash as the future, yet when my PowerBook visits a site with even a flash ad on it, I feel as if my machine is about to take off and leave my lap.

That's up to Adobe, not Apple/Webkit.

arn

 

[Darkroom]

i don't exactly know how "slow" javascript has ever been... seems to have always been as instant as a site loading... what could really use some improvement is flash... don't get me wrong, the FPS of flash on safari are great, and much better than firefox or camino, but flash is often slow to initiate, if it doesn't cause the browser to crash.

 

[leehericks]

Well, as always debated, some believe that Web 2.0 using Javascript is a hell of a lot better than using Flash. Which means when a web app like Meebo loads up in your browser and uses Javascript non-stop, you want it to execute quickly.

 

[Applepi]

Safari can always be snappier..

 

[Squid7085]

That's up to Adobe, not Apple/Webkit.

arn

I know, just a general statement. As stated by somebody else, I just have Javascript disabled. Matter of fact, it appears to be used so little that I completely forgot I disabled it.

 

[72930]

I have a feeling that this may come very soon, the latest Webkit nightlies have been really stable, even more so than Safari 3.1

 

[sam-i-am]

I did some speed tests using the latest webkit (whcih includes the new squirrelfish stuff) and a bunch of other browsers. I posted the results at my blog for anyone who is interested:

http://gthing.net/new-javascript-engine-in-webkit-nerd-stuff/

The bottom line is that it is almost twice as fast as Safari, and not even in the same ballpark as firefox 2, 3 beta, internet explorer, etc. This thing is smoking!

 

[Fotek2001]

I know, just a general statement. As stated by somebody else, I just have Javascript disabled. Matter of fact, it appears to be used so little that I completely forgot I disabled it.

Find me a major website that doesn't use JavaScript somewhere. I find it hard to believe you can have any kind of meaningful browsing experience these days without Javascript.

 

[Cleve]

for iPhone as well

http://blogs.computerworld.com/squirrelfish_to_make_safaris_javascript_engine_that_much_faster

And daring fireball says this will make a huge difference in the iPhone

 

[Squid7085]

Find me a major website that doesn't use JavaScript somewhere. I find it hard to believe you can have any kind of meaningful browsing experience these days without Javascript.

Let me rephrase that, there is nothing that I know I am missing. Can't miss it if you don't know it is there. Now that I checked, it actually isn't disabled anymore, I guess I never disabled it after I reinstalled a few weeks ago. Weird.

 

[Ice Berg]

Memory leak???

The webkit nightly build tonight seems a heck of alot faster but it still gets real slow loading pages after about 10 minutes of surfing. Is there still a memory leak in Safari or Webkit nightly builds??

 

[winterspan]

I am not really technical and stuff. What exactly will this do for the user?

Most visibly, it will speed up the loading and processing of interactive web sites and web applications.

I have JavaScript turned off in Safari. Webpages take much, much less time loading now. I'm learning to live without it entirely.

I know, just a general statement. As stated by somebody else, I just have Javascript disabled. Matter of fact, it appears to be used so little that I completely forgot I disabled it.

You can't be serious. So you guys apparently don't ever use javascript-based/AJAX web applications. It seems as if nearly every popular web application on the internet uses AJAX/Javascript in some form. Google/MSN Maps? Gmail? Google Reader? Google Docs? Meebo?