A History of JavaScript on Mobile

My lightning talk for Mobile Dev Japan #3.

Transcript

1. A History of JavaScript on Mobile Jamie Birch
2. The birth of JavaScript Created in 1995 for Netscape Navigator. First ECMAScript spec in 1997.
3. Before the iPhone (pre-2007)
4. HitchHiker (1997) The first mobile browser to implement ECMAScript, by British company SNTC. Ran nearly exclusively on Sony phones with antennae.
5. Pocket Internet Explorer v3.0 (1998) Not actually based on Internet Explorer. Genuine Internet Explorer 10 only landed in Windows Phone 8 (2012).
6. Palmscape v3.0(?) (2000) A made-in-Japan browser for PalmOS PDAs.
7. NetFront v3.0(?) (2002) Deployed on just about every device, including TVs, Kindle (2007-2009; JavaScriptCore from 2010) and Sony PSP (2009).
8. Opera Mobile v3.6 (2000): on PDAs
9. Opera Mobile v6 (2004): on Windows Mobile
10. Opera Mobile v8.5+ (2006): on Nintendo Nintendo DS in 2006 (v8.5). Wii in 2007 (v9).
11. Blackberry Mobile, Web Pro, Vision Mobile Browser, Polaris Browser, Myriad Browser, etc. Surely others
12. After the iPhone (post-2007)
13. 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
14. 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?
15. 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)
16. 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.
17. 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
18. Other options Small runtimes • Ultra-small easily-embeddable runtimes • Duktape (2013) and JerryScript (2014) for seriously weak devices • QuickJS (2019)
19. 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
20. Profile Tokyo Engineer at NativeScript TSC Chair @birch_js @shirakaba Thanks for watching! Jamie Birch