Google Quietly Posts Big JavaScript Engine Update

An anonymous reader writes "Google has updated the Chrome JavaScript engine from version 2.5 to 3.0, which apparently results in some big performance jumps. ConceivablyTech has run some benchmarks on two different PCs and posted charts showing that the latest nightly builds are up to 100% faster than the Chrome browsers with the JavaScript version 2.5 (which would be all currently published Chrome 8 and 9 variants). Especially V8 and Kraken seem to benefit from the upgrade, while Google has now at least on some system the fastest Sunspider browser again."

Stability

[ifiwereasculptor]

I've been using Chrome for ages, but it seems to me like it's already way faster than it would have to be. I use a very dated machine and cannot usually saee Chrome being much faster than Firefox 3.5.12. They should be focusing on improving stability, because since Chrome 7 I've been experiecing unresponsive tabs, tabs that just won't load anything while others do fine and a plethora of other annoyances. Plus it can't really handle /.'s text box. I can't even go back with my mouse to correct a "saee" that's been bugging me for seconds!

I hope they make a Javascript API to Android

[catbutt]

Since Android already has Google's JS engine (in the browser), why not make it so you can write native apps in it? As in, ones that can access everything you can access from java. It might be slightly slower, but I doubt by much....especially since most of the intensive stuff (say, animations) can be done by OS. I work with both languages on the platform, and having to use java is just painful for the stuff that is so easy in javascript. Javascript may not be a perfect language, but its got so many advantages over java in a mobile device. Also the relationship of Java to XML/view layout on Android is so close to the relationship of Javascript to HTML/DOM in browsers.

The other obvious benefit would be that with Chrome OS and Android being effectively competitors, this would help tie the two together....easier to write apps for both if they use the same language. (and then there's that Oracle thing)

The world does not live by Javascript alone

[bradbury]

Now if they could just address some *real* world issues. Like large session restores (dozens of windows/tabs) or browsers that don't eat CPU time when they are idle (all windows minimized and/or inactive). There are many users who view Javascript as inherently evil and think the Web would be better off without it. Its *my* PC and should only be running open source code which many eyes have looked at (not true for a majority of Javascript loose in the wild).

Until they get the session restore and CPU issues right the browser IS NOT GREEN. The people benchmarking browsers or reviewing browsers need to think a bit more outside of the box that seems to consist only of "How fast does Javascript run?" or "How many of the HTML 5 tests does it complete?"

For example, "What is the minimum memory that a browser requires for a specific set of sites?", "What is the system load, e.g. processes, file handles, disk I/O's, etc., to load a specific set of sites?", "How does the browser perform when one exceeds RAM memory? (is the current Window/tab responsive?)", "What is the largest HTML document I can load and how long does it take?", "How long does it take to complete loading a complex diversified page, e.g. one which loads sub-elements from 50-100 other sites?"

The stress and performance testing of browsers seems confined to a box whose dimensions are typically measured in angstroms!