Nashorn (JavaScript engine) explained

Nashorn
Developer:Oracle Corporation, OpenJDK Community
Latest Release Version:15.4
Operating System:Cross-platform
Platform:Java Virtual Machine
Programming Language:Java
Genre: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]

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 pronounced as /de/ ("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

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Adventures in JSR-292 or How To Be A Duck Without Really Trying. July 2011. Laskey. James. Oracle Corporation. 2011-07-24. https://web.archive.org/web/20160603132421/http://wiki.jvmlangsummit.com/images/c/ce/Nashorn.pdf. 2016-06-03. dead.
  2. Web site: Proposed new schedule for Java 8 . 2013-04-18 . 2013-04-19.
  3. Web site: JDK 8 . OpenJDK . 2013-04-18 . 2013-04-19.
  4. Web site: JVM Language Summit — Agenda. July 2011. Oracle Corporation. 2011-07-24. 2011-08-19. https://web.archive.org/web/20110819110827/http://openjdk.java.net/projects/mlvm/jvmlangsummit/agenda.html. dead.
  5. Web site: JVM Language Summit: Moving Java Forward, aka 'Pointy haired manager talk'. Saab. Georges. 2011-07-19. Oracle Corporation. 2011-07-24. https://web.archive.org/web/20120423215424/http://wiki.jvmlangsummit.com/images/2/27/JVMLS_GES.pdf. 2012-04-23. dead.
  6. Web site: Oracle prepping its Nashorn JavaScript engine. Krill. Paul. 2011-10-05. InfoWorld. 2011-10-08.
  7. Web site: CFV: New Project: Nashorn. Coomes. John. 2012-11-21. Oracle Corporation. 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. 2012-11-24.
  8. Web site: Open for business. Laskey. J. 2012-12-21. Oracle Corporation. 2012-12-21.
  9. Web site: Java Platform, Standard Edition Java API Reference.
  10. Web site: Tweet showing all ECMAScript 5.1 tests passing on the screen of a Nashorn developers' computer.
  11. Web site: JEP 335: Deprecate the Nashorn JavaScript Engine. 2017-07-17. 2018-09-25.
  12. Web site: JEP 372: Remove the Nashorn JavaScript Engine . 2020-01-10 . 2020-07-22.
  13. Web site: JavaScript: The Definitive Guide, 5th Edition . O'Reilly Media, Inc . 2012-01-31.
  14. Web site: Nashorn Architecture and Performance Improvements in the Upcoming JDK 8u40 Release . 2014-12-12. Oracle Corporation. 2015-09-06.

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