Subj : Re: Any pointers to info on JS interpreter implementation? To : netscape.public.mozilla.jseng From : Christopher M. Balz Date : Tue May 24 2005 11:07 am Thank you. I am looking for information on how, for example, string concatenation is done (it varies a lot from the IE implementation to the Firefox implementation), how primitive values (strings, object literals, function literals, etc) are wrapped (on-the-fly from primitives or permanently), how the values in the prototype chain are handled (vis-a-vis the performance improvement of using prototypes to implement inheritance), how objects are allocated in memory, any physical placement schemes (by register number) that might be in place for allocating objects in memory registers, how objects are found in memory (for example, if a heap is used, time-to-find a given object will increase exponentially with allocation, which is what I tend to see), and so on. This kind of information has become very important due to the scale of use of JavaScript, yet it seems hard to find without manually sifting through the source code. While I agree that manual sifting is virtuous, and am thankful that there is source code available for at least some implementations, it is definitely a somewhat horse-and-buggy approach to finding the information. - Chris B. --- Martin Honnen wrote: > > > Christopher M. Balz wrote: > > > Where may documents (whitepapers, diagrams) that > > describe the implementation of one or more major > JS > > interpreters (i.e., SeaMonkey, JScript, etc.) be > > found? > > Seamonkey is (well was) the code name for the > Mozilla browser suite, the > JavaScript engine implemented in C is called > Spidermonkey. > As for documentation of Spidermonkey or Rhino it is > accessible from this > page: > > Not sure however you will find whitepapers there, > there are docs to > explain how to embed/use an engine in your > application. > > > -- > > Martin Honnen > http://JavaScript.FAQTs.com/ > _______________________________________________ > mozilla-jseng mailing list > mozilla-jseng@mozilla.org > http://mail.mozilla.org/listinfo/mozilla-jseng > Christopher M Balz http://treelogic-swe.com 160 Lincoln Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94301-2437, USA (h) 650.327.0367 / (w) 650.965.2900x207 cbalz@andrew.cmu.edu christophermbalz@stanfordalumni.org chris@treelogic-swe.com ". . . / This Cabinet is formd of Gold / And Pearl & Crystal shining bright And within it opens into a World / . . . Another England there I saw / Another London with its Tower Another Thames & other Hills / And another pleasant Surrey Bower . . ." - from "The Crystal Cabinet", a poem by William Blake. .