Probably the most exciting real-time graph-based performance benchmark on the web right now is Are We Fast Yet?, Mozilla’s JavaScript engine comparison with Nitro (formerly SquirrelFish) and V8. It’s tracked performance since they began a bid to improve performance for Firefox 4.
The dramatic results are a vivid contrast to Proebsting‘s law of compiler optimisation. JavaScript’s improving viability is making for increasingly diverse opportunities.
Even as Mozilla’s JägerMonkey catches up V8 is still getting faster. The web’s diverse corpus of code provides both a motivating goal and also a testable verdict; here’s to the next big drop, whichever line it may be on.
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