Opera has announced that they are developing a new JavaScript engine for their web browser that will be significantly faster than the current version. The new version is being designed to achieve maximum execution speed, while previous engine was designed to minimize code footprint and memory usage. To accomplish the goal the new engine will include native code generation, registered-based bytecode, and automatic object identification. Native code generation removes the significant overhead that bytecode execution creates. Firefox, Safari, and Chrome’s latest JavaScript engines also include native code generation. According to Opera, the new engine “is currently about two and a half times faster at the SunSpider benchmark than the ECMAScript engine in Presto 2.2 (Opera 10 Alpha)”without using native code generation. When using native code generation, which is “not yet ready for full-scale testing”, it runs “between 5 and 50 times faster” in compatible benchmark tests. No details were given as to when the new engine will be added to the Opera web browser.
Month: February 2009
Google Error Claimed All Websites Contained Malware
For an hour on Saturday morning Google’s search results page flagged every web page listed as containing malware and blocked access to those web pages through links on the results page. When Google detects that a website contains malware, it warn users when a page from that website is listed in search results by placing the message “This site may harm your computer” under the listing for a page and by placing an interstitial page when the link for that page is clicked. According to a post by Marissa Mayer, Google’s Vice President of Search Products & User Experience, on the Official Google Blog, all websites displayed the warning due to a change in the manual list of websites containing malware. Mayer explained that “the URL of ‘/’ was mistakenly checked in as a value to the file and ‘/’ expands to all URLs.” Google list of websites that contain malware also includes websites that are listed through automated processes.