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A History of JavaScript on Mobile
Jamie Birch
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The birth of
JavaScript
Created in 1995 for Netscape
Navigator.
First ECMAScript spec in
1997.
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Before the iPhone (pre-2007)
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HitchHiker (1997)
The first mobile browser to
implement ECMAScript, by
British company SNTC.
Ran nearly exclusively on
Sony phones with antennae.
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Pocket Internet
Explorer v3.0 (1998)
Not actually based on
Internet Explorer.
Genuine Internet Explorer 10
only landed in Windows
Phone 8 (2012).
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Palmscape v3.0(?)
(2000)
A made-in-Japan browser
for PalmOS PDAs.
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NetFront v3.0(?)
(2002)
Deployed on just about
every device, including TVs,
Kindle (2007-2009;
JavaScriptCore from 2010)
and Sony PSP (2009).
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Opera Mobile v3.6
(2000): on PDAs
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Opera Mobile v6
(2004): on Windows
Mobile
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Opera Mobile v8.5+
(2006): on Nintendo
Nintendo DS in 2006 (v8.5).
Wii in 2007 (v9).
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Blackberry Mobile, Web Pro, Vision Mobile Browser, Polaris Browser, Myriad Browser, etc.
Surely others
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After the iPhone (post-2007)
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Post-iPhone (2007+)
… And the second browser war (2004–2017)
Browser JavaScript engine
Chrome V8
Safari JavaScriptCore
Firefox SpiderMonkey
Internet Explorer Chakra
Opera Futhark, Carakan
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The de facto standard on iOS: JavaScriptCore
• Introduced in iOS 7 (2013)
• Zero size (on iOS)
• Battery-efficient
• Used by NativeScript iOS (2014)
• Used by React Native iOS & Android (2015)
• What more could you want?
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Other options
V8
• Fast (even with JIT disabled)
• Heavy (17.6 MB for v9.7 on Android, without Internationalisation API)
• Used for NativeScript on Android (2014) and iOS once JITless (2019)
• Used for React Native by Expo (2019) and Microsoft (2020)
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Other options
Hermes
• React Native announced Hermes in 2019
• Small (4.4 MB release build on iOS, as of React Native v0.73.7)
• Fast (due to AoT compilation)
• However, lacks ES6 support, Intl, etc.
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Other options
Remember Node.js?
• Node.js ported to mobile on 2017 (swapping V8 for ChakraCore)
• Back to V8 once it supported JITless mode (2020)
• Fast, with a comprehensive SDK, but heavy
• Sadly never really caught on
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Other options
Small runtimes
• Ultra-small easily-embeddable runtimes
• Duktape (2013) and JerryScript (2014) for seriously weak devices
• QuickJS (2019)
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Abrupt conclusion
• JavaScript engines on mobile have gone from individual ventures to a game
of Big Tech
• Which engine should we use nowadays?
• Size: JavaScriptCore (on iOS), Duktape, JerryScript, QuickJS, Hermes
• Fast startup: Hermes
• Fast execution: V8
• Features: V8, JavaScriptCore, SpiderMonkey
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Profile
Tokyo
Engineer at
NativeScript TSC Chair
@birch_js
@shirakaba
Thanks for watching!
Jamie Birch