Mozilla juices Firefox's JavaScript with IonMonkey

[Brink]

Mozilla has begun building a new technology called IonMonkey into Firefox to improve its JavaScript performance.

High JavaScript performance is essential in today's hotly competitive browser market, because JavaScript is the language behind complicated Web sites and Web apps such as Google Docs and Facebook. IonMonkey has now been packaged into the "nightly" version of Firefox 18 for hardcore developers; that version is scheduled to become the mainstream version of the browser early in 2013.

Read more at source:
Mozilla juices Firefox's JavaScript with IonMonkey | Internet & Media - CNET News

 

[theveterans]

IE better need to catch up. Its javascript performance is getting slower and slower compared to rapid release updates from Mozilla and Chromium.

 

[x BlueRobot]

I've noticed the difference in JavaScript performance between Internet Explorer and Firefox/Chrome to be increasing, with Google and Mozilla leading the way in performance.

One question, which keeps returning to my mind, is Google Chrome faster or is Mozilla Firefox faster?

 

[Windows i7 920]

I ran SunSpider 0.9.1 on both browsers. From is Chrome, To is Firefox.

Also, anyone interested in the Firefox 18 nightly can get it here:
http://nightly.mozilla.org/

TEST                   COMPARISON            FROM                 TO             DETAILS

=============================================================================

** TOTAL **:           ??                237.4ms +/- 16.9%   241.8ms +/- 1.6%     not conclusive: might be *1.019x as slow*

=============================================================================

  3d:                  ??                 34.6ms +/- 19.4%    41.9ms +/- 7.1%     not conclusive: might be *1.21x as slow*
    cube:              ??                 11.9ms +/- 36.7%    16.3ms +/- 12.1%     not conclusive: might be *1.37x as slow*
    morph:             -                  10.0ms +/- 15.4%     9.0ms +/- 15.9% 
    raytrace:          *1.31x as slow*    12.7ms +/- 9.9%    16.6ms +/- 3.0%     significant

  access:              -                  24.8ms +/- 41.3%    19.1ms +/- 4.1% 
    binary-trees:      -                   2.9ms +/- 84.1%     2.4ms +/- 15.4% 
    fannkuch:          1.115x as fast      8.7ms +/- 4.0%     7.8ms +/- 3.9%     significant
    nbody:             -                   9.7ms +/- 73.4%     4.4ms +/- 8.4% 
    nsieve:            *1.29x as slow*     3.5ms +/- 22.1%     4.5ms +/- 8.4%     significant

  bitops:              -                  17.0ms +/- 22.6%    14.0ms +/- 5.4% 
    3bit-bits-in-byte: -                   1.2ms +/- 25.1%     1.0ms +/- 0.0% 
    bits-in-byte:      *1.21x as slow*     4.2ms +/- 7.2%     5.1ms +/- 4.4%     significant
    bitwise-and:       *1.167x as slow*    3.6ms +/- 10.3%     4.2ms +/- 17.6%     significant
    nsieve-bits:       2.16x as fast       8.0ms +/- 45.0%     3.7ms +/- 9.3%     significant

  controlflow:         *1.154x as slow*    2.6ms +/- 14.2%     3.0ms +/- 0.0%     significant
    recursive:         *1.154x as slow*    2.6ms +/- 14.2%     3.0ms +/- 0.0%     significant

  crypto:              *1.147x as slow*   19.0ms +/- 12.8%    21.8ms +/- 3.4%     significant
    aes:               *1.47x as slow*     7.0ms +/- 15.2%    10.3ms +/- 4.7%     significant
    md5:               *1.34x as slow*     5.6ms +/- 8.9%     7.5ms +/- 5.0%     significant
    sha1:              1.60x as fast       6.4ms +/- 18.4%     4.0ms +/- 8.4%     significant

  date:                *1.61x as slow*    23.2ms +/- 27.5%    37.3ms +/- 3.8%     significant
    format-tofte:      *1.56x as slow*    11.8ms +/- 25.3%    18.4ms +/- 4.2%     significant
    format-xparb:      *1.66x as slow*    11.4ms +/- 31.9%    18.9ms +/- 3.8%     significant

  math:                ??                 19.7ms +/- 32.5%    20.5ms +/- 3.8%     not conclusive: might be *1.041x as slow*
    cordic:            *1.167x as slow*    3.0ms +/- 11.2%     3.5ms +/- 10.8%     significant
    partial-sums:      ??                 13.2ms +/- 45.4%    13.8ms +/- 3.3%     not conclusive: might be *1.045x as slow*
    spectral-norm:     -                   3.5ms +/- 17.4%     3.2ms +/- 9.4% 

  regexp:              *1.30x as slow*    10.5ms +/- 9.8%    13.7ms +/- 3.5%     significant
    dna:               *1.30x as slow*    10.5ms +/- 9.8%    13.7ms +/- 3.5%     significant

  string:              1.22x as fast      86.0ms +/- 14.7%    70.5ms +/- 1.6%     significant
    base64:            -                   5.9ms +/- 36.3%     5.3ms +/- 6.5% 
    fasta:             1.52x as fast      11.7ms +/- 20.4%     7.7ms +/- 11.6%     significant
    tagcloud:          -                  23.8ms +/- 9.7%    21.7ms +/- 1.6% 
    unpack-code:       -                  30.2ms +/- 14.3%    26.0ms +/- 2.6% 
    validate-input:    1.47x as fast      14.4ms +/- 21.2%     9.8ms +/- 4.6%     significant

 

[JimJoe]

I have FF13... it looks too much like IE, which I don't care for. Maybe someday Mozilla will wake up and stop trying to make an IE clone. Yeah, I'm opinionated.

 

[Derek10]

Firefox has improved a lot in the 18 nightly builds, but yes, its JavaScript speed is still the Achilles heel.

I've noticed the difference in JavaScript performance between Internet Explorer and Firefox/Chrome to be increasing, with Google and Mozilla leading the way in performance.

One question, which keeps returning to my mind, is Google Chrome faster or is Mozilla Firefox faster?

Google Chrome as for now is currently not only faster than Firefox, but faster than anything, at least in my computer. Compared with IE10, Opera 12.50, Safari 5, and Firefox 18 nightly, in many tests and regular browsing.

Chrome -> IE10 -> Opera 12.50 -> Firefox.

I have FF13... it looks too much like IE, which I don't care for. Maybe someday Mozilla will wake up and stop trying to make an IE clone. Yeah, I'm opinionated.

Almost all browsers have now very similar GUIs.