After we reported that Mozilla is working on a new, faster scripting engine -- JägerMonkey -- it has now come to light that Apple's WebKit project and its JavaScript native code generator JSCore will be the 'secret sauce' that speeds things up.Firefox already has strong code optimization in its current JavaScript engine (TraceMonkey), but in terms of actual code generation Adobe's nanojit component has always been a little on the slow side. When Firefox had only IE7 to compete with, no one noticed -- then along came WebKit! With so many better options -- Chrome, Safari, Opera 10.50 and its lightning-fast Carakan -- there is a rapidly receding list of reasons to use Firefox.
That's why Mozilla's going to simply tear out Adobe's naff nanojit, strap on Apple's JSCore... and voila! Faster JavaScript! The wonders of open-source! Let's not forget that Firefox also borrowed code from Chromium for the out-of-process plug-ins -- and presumably, when per-tab processes come in, they might be borrowed from elsewhere too.
Let's hope Mozilla brings greater original innovation to Firefox this year. 2009, with its Personas, was a little flat.
[via Ars Technica]
Firefox pulls a Dr Frankenstein and bolts on WebKit JavaScript engine to speed things up originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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