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SIMD makes JS a better compile target. The Dart VM is still more "lightweight" (it has to generate a lot less native code) and it offers much faster startup (10

by ahoge 12y ago

SIMD makes JS a better compile target. The Dart VM is still more "lightweight" (it has to generate a lot less native code) and it offers much faster startup (10x). There also aren't deoptimization traps scattered all over the place. The performance is very predictable. As far as the VM itself is concerned, it doesn't really matter if other browser start to support Dart natively. The VM is extremely useful for development, you can embed it in native applications, and you can use it to write web servers and other command line tools.

ndesaulniers 12y ago
Startup compared to v8. v8 compiles all JS to bytecode first, which is where it gets poorer startup time compared to SpiderMonkey's interpreter, or JavaScriptCore's handwritten assembly interpreter. How many people are using the Dart VM outside of Dartium? Is it a meaningful amount that I should be worried?
- spankalee 12y ago
  Worried about what?
- ahoge 12y ago
  It's not like SpiderMonkey starts up instantaneously. Also, an interpreter is of course slower than the quick and dirty native code generated by V8. JSC doesn't seem to have an advantage in the extremely short-running SunSpider benchmark suite. Dart's snapshots are also something you just can't do with JavaScript, because the program structure is created imperatively with JS. You have to run quite a bit of code before you can actually run the program itself. > Is it a meaningful amount that I should be worried? Worried about what? Why would you care anyways? Do you also get worried if some game uses a Lua VM? I use Dart for pretty much everything. Command line tools, web servers, and client-side scripting. It's an excellent choice for the things I do and the things I want to do. It's a better fit than Java, C#, JavaScript, Python, or PHP. I still do use those languages occasionally, but Dart is my primary language now.
  - sitkack 12y ago
    Mike Pall would disagree with you about interpreter vs compiler.

by ahoge 12y ago

ndesaulniers 12y ago

Startup compared to v8. v8 compiles all JS to bytecode first, which is where it gets poorer startup time compared to SpiderMonkey's interpreter, or JavaScriptCore's handwritten assembly interpreter. How many people are using the Dart VM outside of Dartium? Is it a meaningful amount that I should be worried?

spankalee 12y ago
Worried about what?
ahoge 12y ago
It's not like SpiderMonkey starts up instantaneously. Also, an interpreter is of course slower than the quick and dirty native code generated by V8. JSC doesn't seem to have an advantage in the extremely short-running SunSpider benchmark suite. Dart's snapshots are also something you just can't do with JavaScript, because the program structure is created imperatively with JS. You have to run quite a bit of code before you can actually run the program itself. > Is it a meaningful amount that I should be worried? Worried about what? Why would you care anyways? Do you also get worried if some game uses a Lua VM? I use Dart for pretty much everything. Command line tools, web servers, and client-side scripting. It's an excellent choice for the things I do and the things I want to do. It's a better fit than Java, C#, JavaScript, Python, or PHP. I still do use those languages occasionally, but Dart is my primary language now.
- sitkack 12y ago
  Mike Pall would disagree with you about interpreter vs compiler.