Nice! There's still cool cpp stuff going on in Firefox. This is one example. https://searchfox.org/mozilla-central/source/js/src/jit/Warp...
I was thinking new stuff was done in Rust. I guess Gecko is CPP only?
Firefox's JIT is getting significantly faster
111–120 of 286 posts
Re: Firefox's JIT is getting significantly faster
#112It's sad how these valuable optimizations are unknown to the average person. When I hear "the browser" discussed in almost any parlance, the implication is Chrome. It's rare to even hear someone say "Chrome," as it's the defacto choice for the non-mobile web. Convenience breeds ignorance.
A 10-15% speed bump in CPU performance is certainly nice but in most cases it's not going to be something that users are consciously aware of. Web page performance varies a lot due to network performance, new versions of websites being deployed, different ads being served, and so on. This noise obscures things enough that it probably won't be easy to attribute a change in performance to the browser if you're not looking for it.
But even if the users aren't aware of what changed, it will likely affect user behavior.
For the better? Hard to say. Websites that load a little faster are a little more addictive.
Re: Firefox's JIT is getting significantly faster
#113Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think it will take more time to say that for certain. Warp is an exception, but most of the recent improvements to Firefox were initially prototyped and developed in the experimental Servo engine which was to my knowledge intended to eventually replace all of gecko. Most of the team for that has been let go. I think the thing to be worried about is: what will happen when they run out of stuff that's already in the…
> Or will they have to concede like opera and edge did. I am sad to say this, but I think it's only a matter of time. At this point, the list of parties driving Web standards basically consists of a whole bunch of organizations that rely on Blink, plus Apple and Mozilla. WebKit can probably hang on for a good long while because ~15% of user-agents are required by fiat to be WebKit. Gecko? At 5% marketshare, I fear it…
This is catastrophism. If Mozilla can make a browser that developers enjoy using as daily driver, developers will make stuff for it. If Mozilla can build bridges with framework makers, frameworks will work just fine. They just need to regain some of the focus that was squandered on too many moonshots and hazardous choices (FFOS, Pocket, etc).
Re: Firefox's JIT is getting significantly faster
#114Earlier quoted context omitted.
News groups?
Nope, email via arpanet (1973) preceeded usenet (1980).
The fact that email preceded usenet does not mean that things cannot have been invented in Usenet before they were invented in email.
As a concrete example, :-) was invented on a bulletin board. See http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~sef/sefSmiley.htm for the details.
Re: Firefox's JIT is getting significantly faster
#115Great. Now it's time to start throttling JS in browsers. Give them the equivalent of a few MHZ or a few seconds runtime to play with and no more.
Re: Firefox's JIT is getting significantly faster
#116Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Or will they have to concede like opera and edge did. I am sad to say this, but I think it's only a matter of time. At this point, the list of parties driving Web standards basically consists of a whole bunch of organizations that rely on Blink, plus Apple and Mozilla. WebKit can probably hang on for a good long while because ~15% of user-agents are required by fiat to be WebKit. Gecko? At 5% marketshare, I fear it…
This is catastrophism. If Mozilla can make a browser that developers enjoy using as daily driver, developers will make stuff for it. If Mozilla can build bridges with framework makers, frameworks will work just fine. They just need to regain some of the focus that was squandered on too many moonshots and hazardous choices (FFOS, Pocket, etc).
I think that that may no longer be enough. The elephant in the room is the Web taking over non-Web apps. If Electron is part of your deployment surface, you can't escape Chromium. If Cordova is part of your deployment surface, it's Chromium or WebKit. A nice UI on the dev tools is nice, but I imagine most people would take an acceptable UI over a nice one if the acceptable one is how you get a development environment that is more comparable to what life will be like in production.
FFOS was a moonshot that burned a lot of resources, but I also suspect it's one of the few things that, had it been successful, could have guaranteed Firefox's long-term survival.
Re: Firefox's JIT is getting significantly faster
#117Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Or will they have to concede like opera and edge did. I am sad to say this, but I think it's only a matter of time. At this point, the list of parties driving Web standards basically consists of a whole bunch of organizations that rely on Blink, plus Apple and Mozilla. WebKit can probably hang on for a good long while because ~15% of user-agents are required by fiat to be WebKit. Gecko? At 5% marketshare, I fear it…
This is catastrophism. If Mozilla can make a browser that developers enjoy using as daily driver, developers will make stuff for it. If Mozilla can build bridges with framework makers, frameworks will work just fine. They just need to regain some of the focus that was squandered on too many moonshots and hazardous choices (FFOS, Pocket, etc).
This is exactly what bothered me when I heard parts of Mozilla Devtools team were let go in the recent layoffs. It's as if they don't get the equation at all.
Better devtools = More developers = More testing = Smoother website = More market share.
Re: Firefox's JIT is getting significantly faster
#118Earlier quoted context omitted.
Quick look at the profile (unless you recognize the name) reveals Gregory is the founder of ReadMe.com (when you guys moved from io?!), so supposedly ex to start his own company!
Last summer! It's the most expensive thing I own haha
Wow, did that help business, or was it more of a vanity thing? I was thinking domains didn’t matter all that much.
Re: Firefox's JIT is getting significantly faster
#119Nice! There's still cool cpp stuff going on in Firefox. This is one example. https://searchfox.org/mozilla-central/source/js/src/jit/Warp...
I was thinking new stuff was done in Rust. I guess Gecko is CPP only?
I think some Rust components have been written and integrated into Firefox. But the core Firefox codebase - including Gecko - is still C++ so it's not easy use Rust there.
https://wiki.mozilla.org/Oxidation
On a related note, Chrome is looking at integrating Rust into its C++ codebase.
https://www.chromium.org/Home/chromium-security/memory-safet...
Re: Firefox's JIT is getting significantly faster
#120They well deserve some donations, and I just sent some quid, but would also buy some merchandise for me and gifts for friends/relatives if shipping costs make it worth, but apparently there's no way to purchase from them. A search brought some sites selling Mozilla branded items, but I'd like to be sure the money, or most of it, goes to the Mozilla Foundation. Any suggestions? Thanks.
Would be great if Firefox set up monthly donations system on Patreon, OpenCollective or similar platform, and all donations would go directly to browser development.
As an open source project, there's no reason a fund to support Firefox development has to in any way involve Mozilla. It can exist independently and fund developers directly.
If having a sustaining fund dedicated solely to Gecko/Firefox development, and it seems implicitly to specific elements of that development (ie. not those that directly or primarily benefit other Mozilla services) is truly important, don't wait on Mozilla to provide one for you to donate to. They don't have the incentive, or frankly the need, to do that.