5 ms·

Surely I'm not the only one asking "what is this/should I care?" (three clicks later...) V8 is a javascript engine that supports web assembly.

positr0n 11y ago
To give you more context, it is not just "a" javascript engine. It is the engine behind node.jj, Google Chrome, and others!
tajen 11y ago
V8 is the js engine. The one that is so fast because it compiles in JIT, the one that powers Chrome and Node.js, the one that enabled a full range of let's-build-a-full-app-in-a-browser apps. Also for the worse: the one that lets us include 10Mb of js in a browser.
- coldtea 11y ago
  >The one that is so fast because it compiles in JIT That's true for all modern JS engines (JavaScriptCore, Edge, SpiderMonkey, v8) and has been for several years (almost a decade).
  - Cthulhu_ 11y ago
    But only after V8; before that, JS performance had no priority in browsers.
    - azakai 11y ago
      That's a common mistake, but JITs in WebKit and Gecko came out at around the same time as v8. Their development began before v8 launched. edit: For example, see the dates on Wikipedia, v8 launched September 2008, and WebKit's Nitro (SFX) JIT launched in the same month. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebKit#JavaScriptCore https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebKit#JavaScriptCore https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V8_(JavaScript_engine) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V8_(JavaScript_engine)
    - coldtea 11y ago
      Nope. In fact Mozilla was somewhat earlier to come up with their JIT-ed JS engine, then Google (v8), then Apple (JSC), but all went live with an insignificant time difference between them (all within a few months in 2008). (Insignificant since the respective companies have already been working on them simultaneously for years -- so going live was mostly based on who wrapped up first, bugs be damned, not on some unique innovation that others later copied).
coldtea 11y ago
Yes, you are probably the only one.
- jackhack 11y ago
  This may be true, but as an embedded developer my world is quite different from the fullstack work many of the rest of audience here. I could have phrased it more delicately, but I assure you I wasn't being a smart-alek. There is a steady stream of new/unfamiliar tools discussed here and I find that I'm frequently clicking just to find out what it's all about.
Cthulhu_ 11y ago
I'm sure the problem in your case is that apparently the blog is hosted off-site from the v8 project's site; you need to go to the homepage (v8project.blogspot.com) and find a link on the right side to get to https://github.com/v8/v8/wiki https://github.com/v8/v8/wiki, which has a short introduction to what v8 is. It's a bit underwhelming, really.

positr0n 11y ago

To give you more context, it is not just "a" javascript engine. It is the engine behind node.jj, Google Chrome, and others!

tajen 11y ago

V8 is the js engine. The one that is so fast because it compiles in JIT, the one that powers Chrome and Node.js, the one that enabled a full range of let's-build-a-full-app-in-a-browser apps. Also for the worse: the one that lets us include 10Mb of js in a browser.

coldtea 11y ago
>The one that is so fast because it compiles in JIT That's true for all modern JS engines (JavaScriptCore, Edge, SpiderMonkey, v8) and has been for several years (almost a decade).
- Cthulhu_ 11y ago
  But only after V8; before that, JS performance had no priority in browsers.
  - azakai 11y ago
    That's a common mistake, but JITs in WebKit and Gecko came out at around the same time as v8. Their development began before v8 launched. edit: For example, see the dates on Wikipedia, v8 launched September 2008, and WebKit's Nitro (SFX) JIT launched in the same month. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebKit#JavaScriptCore https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebKit#JavaScriptCore https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V8_(JavaScript_engine) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V8_(JavaScript_engine)
  - coldtea 11y ago
    Nope. In fact Mozilla was somewhat earlier to come up with their JIT-ed JS engine, then Google (v8), then Apple (JSC), but all went live with an insignificant time difference between them (all within a few months in 2008). (Insignificant since the respective companies have already been working on them simultaneously for years -- so going live was mostly based on who wrapped up first, bugs be damned, not on some unique innovation that others later copied).

coldtea 11y ago

Yes, you are probably the only one.

jackhack 11y ago
This may be true, but as an embedded developer my world is quite different from the fullstack work many of the rest of audience here. I could have phrased it more delicately, but I assure you I wasn't being a smart-alek. There is a steady stream of new/unfamiliar tools discussed here and I find that I'm frequently clicking just to find out what it's all about.

Cthulhu_ 11y ago

I'm sure the problem in your case is that apparently the blog is hosted off-site from the v8 project's site; you need to go to the homepage (v8project.blogspot.com) and find a link on the right side to get to https://github.com/v8/v8/wiki https://github.com/v8/v8/wiki, which has a short introduction to what v8 is. It's a bit underwhelming, really.