ECMAScript 4 Progress Tracking
Date : 2008 03 14 Category : Tech & Development
AjaxianJohn Resig started a detailed spreadsheet to track the progress of ECMAScript 4 implementations. There is also a set of columns to track the thoughts of various companies (Mozilla, Google, Apple, Microsoft, Adobe, etc) on various parts and pieces of the spec, which is enlightening. You get to see a layer of transparency in the ECMA process. Imagine if this was more open?
Francis Cheng of Adobe has written a brief description of the implementations:
ES4 RI: This is the ECMAScript 4th Edition reference implementation that the ES4 working group is developing. It is written in Standard ML '97, except for the library of core classes, which is written in ES4 itself. Tamarin: This began life as the AVM2 (ActionScript Virtual Machine 2), but morphed into Tamarin when the AVM2 was released as open source and handed over to Mozilla for hosting and coordination. Tamarin will serve as the VM for future versions of Flash Player as well as future versions of the FireFox web browser. Spidermonkey: This is a JavaScript engine hosted by Mozilla. It provides scripting support in many applications, some of which are Mozilla FireFox, Yahoo! Widgets, Adobe Acrobat, and Adobe Flash CS3 (allows scripting control of the Flash authoring tool with JSFL). Rhino: This is another Mozilla JavaScript engine, but this one is written entirely in Java and is intended for use in applications rather than in browsers. Futhark: This is a JavaScript engine developed by Opera Software for use in Opera's browser versions 9.5 and 10.0. Mbedthis: Mbedthis specializes in embedded web server solutions and is developing EJScript 3.0, which is based on ES4. JSCore: This is short for JavaScriptCore, which is the JavaScript engine in WebKit.