Posts Tagged ECMAScript

ECMAScript 4 – Goodbye…

Posted by zeflasher in Actionscript 3.0, News on August 15, 2008

Yeah, you read it well…

Forget about ECMAScript 4 and stuff you may have learned while using language based on its draft ( yeah for instance AS3, Javascript 2.0 ). The ECMAScript 4 has been reject in favor of small changes to ECMAScript 3.1. This has been decided at the Oslo meeting.

Here are the main conclusions( check the post on the mailing list ):

  • Focus work on ES3.1 with full collaboration of all parties, and target two interoperable implementations by early next year.
  • Collaborate on the next step beyond ES3.1, which will include syntactic extensions but which will be more modest than ES4 in both semantic and syntactic innovation.
  • Some ES4 proposals have been deemed unsound for the Web, and are off the table for good: packages, namespaces and early binding. This conclusion is key to Harmony.
  • Other goals and ideas from ES4 are being rephrased to keep consensus in the committee; these include a notion of classes based on existing ES3 concepts combined with proposed ES3.1 extensions.

    • So yeah, goodbye package, goodbye namespace, …
    As everyone, I was pleased that Adobe based AS3 on a standard, but now that ECMAScript won’t be, what will happen to AS3?

    Adobe plans was to deliver a language based on a standard. So will they drop package, namespace and all ES4 features to meet the ES3.1 requirement and so step back? Or maybe try to find another standard close enought to ECMAScript 4 to base AS4 on? Or just continue developing their ( now ) “own” language?

    In any cases, that’s just sad. Sad for all the developer who have invested time into this draft, sad for all the companies that bet on it and sad for user who have learned it…

    And ( I didn’t wan’t to put this in my post but can’t help it ) you can probably thanks a big company that has a browser having 80% of the market that insisted they would never support EcmaScript 4

    Sources:
    https://mail.mozilla.org/pipermail/es4-discuss/2008-August/003400.html
    http://ejohn.org/blog/ecmascript-harmony/
    http://whydoeseverythingsuck.com/2008/08/ru-roh-adobe-screwed-by-ecmascript.html
    http://joshblog.net/2008/08/13/how-will-ecmascript-harmony-affect-actionscript-3/

    Update
    Here is Adobe answer.
    http://blogs.adobe.com/open/2008/08/blog_entry_dated_81408_715_pm.html
    They will continue AS3 based on ECMAScript 4 and push it forward.

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    ECMAScript the next big language ??

    Posted by zeflasher in Actionscript 3.0, News on March 2, 2007

    On one of the mailing list I’m in, someone pointed out this post interesting to read. The author describe what the Next Big Language will be… It really looks like ECMAScript / AS3 …
    Be ready :)

    3 Comments

    Tamarin or the Actionscript VM2 open source

    Posted by zeflasher in 3rd Party, Actionscript 3.0 on November 16, 2006

    So what is Tamarin?

    “The goal of the “Tamarin” project is to implement a high-performance, open source implementation of the ECMAScript 4th edition (ES4) language specification. The Tamarin virtual machine will be used by Mozilla within SpiderMonkey, the core JavaScript engine embedded in Firefox®, and other products based on Mozilla technology. The code will continue to be used by Adobe as part of the ActionScriptâ„¢ Virtual Machine within Adobe® Flash® Player.“

    Adobe gave the VM to Mozilla with some developers to work on it.

    Some quotes that you could find interesting:

    “The Tamarin release will include the following components:

    • Source code from the ActionScript Virtual Machine (AVM2) as currently shipping in Adobe Flash Player 9, including the Just In Time (JIT) runtime compiler and conservative garbage collector.
    • A partial implementation of a prototype compiler written in ActionScript, which will be developed by the open source community to implement all of the ECMAScript 4th edition specification. This will be a “self-hosted” compiler that is written in the language it compiles.

    “

    “AVM2 supports full runtime error reporting, built-in debugging, and
    binary socket support so developers can extend the player to work with any binary protocol. The AVM2 also features a Just In Time (JIT) compiler that translates ActionScript bytecode to native machine code for maximum execution speed    .“

    “Adobe’s contribution of source code from the ActionScript Virtual Machine to the Tamarin project accelerates the ability of developers to create and deliver richer, more interactive and engaging experiences that work across multiple platforms.“

    It’s all good … :)

    Ressources:
    Sources Code
    Tamarin on Mozilla.org
    FAQ on Mozilla.org
    Adobe Press release
    Tamarin vs Javascript Performance

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