Firefox 3.1 to Receive a JavaScript Performance Upgrade

By Vygantas Lipskas | August 25, 2008 | 7 Comments

Firefox 3.1 to Receive a JavaScript Performance UpgradeGuys from Mozilla Firefox team aren’t sleeping. Few days ago they’ve launched a JavaScript engine called TraceMonkey which will be ported in the upcoming Firefox 3.1 release.

So to make it short: in some benchmarks, new engine is almost 40 times faster than the old one! Can you imagine that?

Just take a look at those benchmarks:

Firefox 3.1 to Receive a JavaScript Performance Upgrade
Click to Enlarge

It makes me wonder what other web browser developers are now thinking?

More details and benchmarks.


About (Author Profile)


Vygantas Lipskas is a former web designer whose projects are used by companies such as AMD, NVIDIA and departed Westood Studios. Being passionate about software, Vygantas began his journalism carrier back in 2007 when he founded FavBrowser.com. Having said that, he is also an adrenaline junkie who enjoys good books, fitness activities and Forex trading.

  • nobody

    well, opera developers are probably thinking.. no, that was a joke.

    opera stoped any kind of active development and is stagnant on almost all fronts. it takes opera one year to do what firefox devs do in few weeks. and they have very iritating habit of focusing on areas that are completly irelevant to everydays browsing, ignoring ones, that ARE important – compatibility, js speed, plugins compatiblity, compatibility, certain non-standard elements (opera being the only one not supporting these etc)

    opera no longer matters on the market

    safari on the other hand.. safari on iphone is more compatible with real world wide web than opera on desktop. impressive, given how bad safari pre 3 was

  • Grrblt

    “opera stoped any kind of active development and is stagnant on almost all fronts. it takes opera one year to do what firefox devs do in few weeks.”

    Guessing that’s because Opera does it first, right?

  • Cody

    I disagree with “nobody”. Opera brings innovative features that take months or a year for other browsers to adopt. As for speed, every new version of Opera is faster than Firefox.

    Let’s wait and see when Opera 9.6 and Firefox 3.1 are released, I’m sure Opera will be faster once more.

  • http://www.technophilia.uni.cc Ky

    I strongly disagree with “nobody”. Safari for Windows is crap, it doesn’t even have a new tab button or anti-phishing protection, not talking about its extremely limited developer tools, odd font-rendering, no support for skins, extensions or widgets.

    On the other hand, Opera keeps releasing new products, such Opera Link, Dragonfly, etc. These features are available in Fx too, I know, but they’re not developed by the Mozilla team, meaning Mozilla devs can focus on Fx core.

  • nobody

    it was concious Opera dev decision to NOT release API and thus not allow community to participate in opera development. so, it is OPERA fault, that they have to develop dragonfly (it is a crap now, sorry) or opera link as a core feature, and not outsource it to community. it was their decision, decision that long ago proved wrong, as opera has absolutely no chance to compete in terms of raw developing power with mozilla and their thousands of extensions developers. and they long ago lost an edge in creativity and quality departments. and still cant provide a browser ‘that works’.

    yes, in the past it was opera that introduced some new concepts, but opera never REFINED them. in opera browser these concepts still exist in their primary form, not developed or improoved in years. most of these are useless now, as in ‘anachronisms’.

    as for the safari – yes, it is a simple, very simple browser – but it works. it works with google apps (all of them) with new yahoo (EVERY service they provide) with almost ALL video sites all around the web. you cant say that about opera. if you can, you are a liar.

    widgets ARE DEAD. no need to mention these, unless you want to mention something other do not have. widgets are pile of useless wasted manpower.

    and please, tell me, what test show, that opera is faster than firefox? each and following tests show clearly that opera is not progressing at the same speed as safari and firefox in terms of JS performance. JS performance, that is THE factor in todays web performance. maybe you cant see it, because most ajax aps do not work with opera, but try these that work in opera and FF at the same time and compare. there IS a difference.

    “Opera brings innovative features that take months or a year for other browsers to adopt.”

    maybe because nobody finds them that usefull at all? with thousands of extensions developers you can bet, that if a concept is good, somebody is going to implement it in a matter of weeks, and do it BETTER than opera did. look for ‘speed dial’ extension for firefox – it is in EVERY way superior to opera implementation. in EVERY way. and it took about a week for it to be released.

    try to find me a piclens or zotero equivalent for opera, go go go

    “Guessing that’s because Opera does it first, right?” – a) it was long ago when opera did something first AND good at the same time b) it doesnt matter who WAS first, it matter who is BELIEVED to do it first. in most cases, firefox, due to very good marketing ‘did’ it first. opera even cant sell their own inventions

  • Emil Ivanov

    Ky,
    Safari is not my first choice, but it renders ClearType better than any other major browser.

  • http://blog.sensenet.hu BiroTom

    Benchmarks and reality are different things. I tried to run the AJAX based GUI of our CMS software, and it was faster, but not 40 times faster. The result was close with Tracemonkey turned on and off.

    But what suprised me was the level of compatibility. The app is optimized for IE7, Firefox 2-3 and Safari, and it runs smoothly in Firefox 3.1. I also compared it to IE8 beta 2, while I was at it. IE8 failed miserably.

    Check my blog for details: http://blog.sensenet.hu/post/2008/08/Comparing-the-Internet-Exploere-8-and-Firefox-(Minefield)-31.aspx

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