iPhone OS 3.0 brings the speed for JavaScript

mobile safari in iphone os 3.0 to get speed boost

Ars is reporting the 3.0 speed improvements to Mobile Safari's JavaScript engine range from 3x to 16x -- a blessed boon to web developers everywhere. No one seems to know if Mobile Safari will be sporting Nitro or SquirrelFish or what, but whatever it is, it'll be faster. If you check out the benchmarks originally posted on Wayne Pan's blog, iPhone OS 3.0 blazes past 2.2 in every category except divisions (the benchmarking tools are available at Craig Hockenberry's blog here).

It's nice to see progress, but I don't think anyone expected Apple to let the JS engine in Mobile Safari lay fallow for long. Every day browsers like Opera Mini and Android's WebKit-based browser are getting better. Heck, even WinMo's version of IE is supposed to support H.264, Flash and Silverlight. Will the upgraded js engine and technology like CSS3 and Canvas draw more developers to iPhone web apps? I doubt it, but the speed improvements will make many browser-based services feel more responsive. That's certainly a win for consumers.

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Source: http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/03/javascript-to-get-…

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Ars is reporting the 3.0 speed improvements to Mobile Safari's JavaScript engine range from 3x to 16x -- a blessed boon to web developers...

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richbum

or you can go to [REDACTED]. [REDACTED] is also another good site. This one isn't as good but it still works, [REDACTED]. [REDACTED] forever!! brought to you by [REDACTED].

March 30 2009 at 4:50 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to richbum's comment

Victor Agreda, Jr.

Yeah, I'm taking a hard stand against SPAM (don't mind people leaving links, but they need to be relevant to the post, not just some random site)

March 30 2009 at 9:54 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

frank.lowney

Let's not confine our thinking to web apps alone. Already there are a number of applications that can store documents in their own application space. Some of those documents can even be displayed using the same calls used by mobileMail.app for attachments (Office, iWork and other documents). This list includes HTML files laden with javascript and CSS,

So, imagine a more direct approach where mobileSafari had direct access to HTML and supporting media files in its own app space.

Or, imagine a new sort of podcast episode, one that is, in fact, a typical Apple package file as iWorks documents are. Web site as podcast episode!

Not only would this provide for time shifting and place shifting, it would also provide a high degree of network independence. Developing content would also be easier since there are lots of applications such as RapidWeaver that help content creators avoid the distraction of deaing with complex code.

March 28 2009 at 7:43 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Charlie

wow thats soooo gurd, alothough the speed is good on the on the iphone but it has alot to be improved

by the way...for great Up-to-Date news, tips, tricks and great deals go to [REDACTED]

March 28 2009 at 1:22 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Murphy Mac

Fallow. Nice.

March 27 2009 at 4:54 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Jon

Thank goodness. Safari on the iPhone is long due for a speed increase (or maybe I'm just spoiled with safari 4 beta on my MacBook...)

March 27 2009 at 4:53 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to Jon's comment

Amerist

Jon, I've been using safari 4 exclusively since it came out. Lovinit.

BTW Safari 4 Public Beta passes Acid 3 with 100/100, which is not mentioned in the WikiPedia article for Acid 3

March 29 2009 at 1:15 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Crabs

I read somewhere that Nitro is just SquirrelFish Extreme renamed, because Nitro doesn't sound asâ€¦umâ€¦ridiculous? as SquirrelFish

March 27 2009 at 4:11 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to Crabs's comment

SpinThis!

You're close. They are both the same, just how they're used and where is different. Much like Safari is Apple's derived version of WebKit, Nitro is Apple's marketing's term for Squirrelfish Extreme (SFX).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebKit

March 28 2009 at 3:02 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Risto T

um... Nitro is SquirrelFish Extreme AFAIK

March 27 2009 at 3:01 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

JNN

I also noticed that Safari on OS 3.0 gets a 97/100 on acid3 test.

March 27 2009 at 2:51 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Stephen Lang

Web apps are sweet AND fast!

March 27 2009 at 2:49 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply