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I think this might be dead in the water to begin with. Apples new TOS state that their new OS is only allowed to run C/C++/Objective C and Javascript as interpr

by lukev 17y ago

I think this might be dead in the water to begin with. Apples new TOS state that their new OS is only allowed to run C/C++/Objective C and Javascript as interpreted by Safari. So it would seem that Opera won't be allowed to interpret Javascript, making it pretty useless as a general purpose browser.

Naga 17y ago
But then again, wouldn't that prevent PHP from being run as well, since it is server-side?
- lukev 17y ago
  No... server side would be fine. But there's no way Opera could be running page Javascript on the server. Javascript is too tightly integrated with the browser. For example, you can't implement a page element "hover" event via server-side code.
  - JeremyBanks 17y ago
    This isn't related to the grandparent's post but on other platforms Opera Mini does only support a limited amount of Javascript and it runs on their servers. From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opera_Mini#JavaScript_support http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opera_Mini#JavaScript_support: Opera Mini has limited support for JavaScript. Before the page is sent to the mobile device, its onLoad events are fired and all scripts are allowed a maximum of two seconds to execute. The setInterval and setTimeout functions are disabled, so scripts designed to wait a certain amount of time before executing will not execute at all. After the scripts have finished or the timeout is reached, all scripts are stopped and the page is compressed and sent to the mobile device. Once on the device, only a handful of events are allowed to trigger scripts: onUnload, onSubmit, onChange, onClick
    - lukev 17y ago
      Well! I wasn't aware of that. So it sounds like the TOS issue is not a problem for them. Unfortunately, it also means it's a completely crippled browser. Why anyone would WANT to use it instead of something fully functional (like Safari) is beyond me. The days of squinting at tiny mobile versions of websites on a 2x1 cell phone screen are behind us, and good riddance. It would appear that Opera Mini is already obsolete on the iPhone due to its very architecture.
      - dagw 17y ago
        Opera mini does a good job of reducing the number of bytes that need to be sent to the phone to render a page. That is very useful for those times when you have a very slow connection or, perhaps more importantly, when you are paying per byte. Granted neither of these cases are exactly everyday occurrences for your average iPhone owner, but for those people who find themselves in the above situation, having something like Opera mini to fall back on would be very handy.
      - akmiller 17y ago
        Obviously you haven't used it! It is definitely meant for content consumption, not general interactivity with more complex web apps. What it does it does very well and does it blazingly fast!
- sdevlin 17y ago
  Not sure I catch your meaning, but, since it's server-side, the iPhone OS never runs it.
statictype 17y ago
Opera Mini is not a general purpose browser (what you're thinking of is Opera Mobile) Opera Mini takes a different approach to web browsing. The pages are rendered in some kind of image format on Opera's proxy servers and then sent in compressed format to the browser. So load times are probably better, but it probably works well only with static web pages. And not web apps. So there shouldn't really be any reason for it to be rejected. At least not on the grounds that its running an interpreter or higher level language framework. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opera_Mini http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opera_Mini Opera Mobile on the other hand is a traditional web browser for mobiles in the same way that Safari is.

by lukev 17y ago

Naga 17y ago

But then again, wouldn't that prevent PHP from being run as well, since it is server-side?

lukev 17y ago
No... server side would be fine. But there's no way Opera could be running page Javascript on the server. Javascript is too tightly integrated with the browser. For example, you can't implement a page element "hover" event via server-side code.
- JeremyBanks 17y ago
  This isn't related to the grandparent's post but on other platforms Opera Mini does only support a limited amount of Javascript and it runs on their servers. From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opera_Mini#JavaScript_support http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opera_Mini#JavaScript_support: Opera Mini has limited support for JavaScript. Before the page is sent to the mobile device, its onLoad events are fired and all scripts are allowed a maximum of two seconds to execute. The setInterval and setTimeout functions are disabled, so scripts designed to wait a certain amount of time before executing will not execute at all. After the scripts have finished or the timeout is reached, all scripts are stopped and the page is compressed and sent to the mobile device. Once on the device, only a handful of events are allowed to trigger scripts: onUnload, onSubmit, onChange, onClick
  - lukev 17y ago
    Well! I wasn't aware of that. So it sounds like the TOS issue is not a problem for them. Unfortunately, it also means it's a completely crippled browser. Why anyone would WANT to use it instead of something fully functional (like Safari) is beyond me. The days of squinting at tiny mobile versions of websites on a 2x1 cell phone screen are behind us, and good riddance. It would appear that Opera Mini is already obsolete on the iPhone due to its very architecture.
    - dagw 17y ago
      Opera mini does a good job of reducing the number of bytes that need to be sent to the phone to render a page. That is very useful for those times when you have a very slow connection or, perhaps more importantly, when you are paying per byte. Granted neither of these cases are exactly everyday occurrences for your average iPhone owner, but for those people who find themselves in the above situation, having something like Opera mini to fall back on would be very handy.
    - akmiller 17y ago
      Obviously you haven't used it! It is definitely meant for content consumption, not general interactivity with more complex web apps. What it does it does very well and does it blazingly fast!
sdevlin 17y ago
Not sure I catch your meaning, but, since it's server-side, the iPhone OS never runs it.

statictype 17y ago

Opera Mini is not a general purpose browser (what you're thinking of is Opera Mobile) Opera Mini takes a different approach to web browsing. The pages are rendered in some kind of image format on Opera's proxy servers and then sent in compressed format to the browser. So load times are probably better, but it probably works well only with static web pages. And not web apps. So there shouldn't really be any reason for it to be rejected. At least not on the grounds that its running an interpreter or higher level language framework. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opera_Mini http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opera_Mini Opera Mobile on the other hand is a traditional web browser for mobiles in the same way that Safari is.