Nashorn (JavaScript engine)

Last updated
Nashorn
Developer(s) Oracle Corporation, OpenJDK Community
Stable release
15.4 / April 23, 2022;2 years ago (2022-04-23)
Repository
Written in Java
Operating system Cross-platform
Platform Java Virtual Machine
Type JavaScript engine
License GPL with a linking exception

Nashorn is a JavaScript engine developed in the Java programming language originally by Oracle and later by the OpenJDK Community. It relies on the support for dynamically typed languages on the Java Platform (JSR 292) (a concept first realized in the experimental Da Vinci Machine and a standard part of Java 7 and later.) Nashorn was included with Java 8 through JDK 14. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

History

The project was announced first at the JVM language summit in July 2011, [4] [5] and then confirmed at JavaOne in October 2011. [6]

On November 21, 2012, Oracle formally announced the open sourcing of the Nashorn source on the OpenJDK repository. The project aim will be to allow embedding JavaScript in Java applications via JSR-223 and to develop standalone JavaScript applications. [7] On December 21, 2012, Oracle announced Nashorn source was publicly released in the OpenJDK repository. [8]

It provides a 100% support of ECMAScript 5.1. [9] It was the first JavaScript implementation to achieve 100% pass rate on the ECMAScript 5.1 test suite. [10]

With the release of Java 11, Nashorn was deprecated citing challenges to maintenance, and has been removed from JDK 15 onwards. [11] [12]

Nashorn development continues on GitHub as a standalone OpenJDK project and the separate release can be used in Java projects from Java 11 and up.

Name

Nashorn [ˈnaːsˌhɔɐ̯n] ("nahss-horn") is the German translation of rhinoceros, a play on words on Rhino, the name of a JavaScript engine implemented in Java and provided by Mozilla Foundation. The latter gets its name from the animal on the cover of the JavaScript book from O'Reilly Media. [13]

Performance

According to Oracle benchmarks, Nashorn performance is several orders of magnitude faster than the alternative Rhino JavaScript engine. [14]

See also

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References

  1. ↑ Laskey, James (July 2011). "Adventures in JSR-292 or How To Be A Duck Without Really Trying" (PDF). Oracle Corporation. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-06-03. Retrieved 2011-07-24.
  2. ↑ "Proposed new schedule for Java 8". 2013-04-18. Retrieved 2013-04-19.
  3. ↑ "JDK 8". OpenJDK. 2013-04-18. Retrieved 2013-04-19.
  4. ↑ "JVM Language Summit — Agenda". Oracle Corporation. July 2011. Archived from the original on 2011-08-19. Retrieved 2011-07-24.
  5. ↑ Saab, Georges (2011-07-19). "JVM Language Summit: Moving Java Forward, aka 'Pointy haired manager talk'" (PDF). Oracle Corporation. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-04-23. Retrieved 2011-07-24.
  6. ↑ Krill, Paul (2011-10-05). "Oracle prepping its Nashorn JavaScript engine". InfoWorld . Retrieved 2011-10-08.
  7. ↑ Coomes, John (2012-11-21). "CFV: New Project: Nashorn". Oracle Corporation . Retrieved 2012-11-24. I hereby propose the creation of the Nashorn Project with Jim Laskey as the Lead and HotSpot group as the sponsoring Group. In accordance with the OpenJDK guidelines [1], we would like to start a new project to implement a lightweight high-performance JavaScript runtime in Java with a native JVM
  8. ↑ Laskey, J (2012-12-21). "Open for business". Oracle Corporation . Retrieved 2012-12-21.
  9. ↑ "Java Platform, Standard Edition Java API Reference".
  10. ↑ "Tweet showing all ECMAScript 5.1 tests passing on the screen of a Nashorn developers' computer".
  11. ↑ "JEP 335: Deprecate the Nashorn JavaScript Engine". 2017-07-17. Retrieved 2018-09-25.
  12. ↑ "JEP 372: Remove the Nashorn JavaScript Engine". 2020-01-10. Retrieved 2020-07-22.
  13. ↑ "JavaScript: The Definitive Guide, 5th Edition". O'Reilly Media, Inc. Retrieved 2012-01-31.
  14. ↑ "Nashorn Architecture and Performance Improvements in the Upcoming JDK 8u40 Release". Oracle Corporation. 2014-12-12. Retrieved 2015-09-06.
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