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javascriptcompilationjit

Which browser pioneered JIT-compiled JavaScript?


I learn that, these days, all browsers JIT-compile JavaScript, and NOT interpret it.

I want to ask which browser pioneered this idea, i.e. introduced it for the very first time. I feel that it might be Google Chrome but there's absolutely no article out there to confirm this.


Solution

  • I think TraceMonkey was the first paper about a JIT for JS and it arrived in Firefox. It was presented in 2009 and its Related Work section mentions no other JS JITs -- just Psyco (precursor to PyPy) and some others. That being said, Chrome shipped V8 (including a JIT) with its release in 2008, so I would hazard a guess that they were developed in parallel. See more comments on Hacker News.