Google says its new JavaScript compiler saves 17 years of Chrome users’ CPU time each day. It should also benefit all Chromium browsers that use it.
Google has shipped a new JavaScript compiler for its V8 JavaScript engine in Chrome called Sparkplug that promises a much faster web experience – and it does it by ‘cheating’, according to the engineers on the project. Sparkplug is part of Chrome 91, which Google released on Tuesday with security updates but also some key changes under the hood that improve its powerful JavaScript engine, V8. Microsoft relies on V8 these days too after ditching its Chakra JavaScript engine from legacy Edge and moving to Chromium for the new Edge browser and switching to V8. SEE: Managing and troubleshooting Android devices checklist (TechRepublic Premium) Google says Chrome 91 has 23% faster performance thanks to Sparkplug’s integration into V8’s JavaScript pipeline. V8 plays an important role in the browser experience in virtually every page on the web since most of them rely on a browser executing JavaScript, the default language for front-end web development. “An important component of delivering a fast browser is fast JavaScript execution,” explains Thomas Nattestad, a Chrome product manager in a blogpost.
