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POHow would a DOM-less,statically typed, ahead-of-time-compiled javascript code compare to native code performance-wise?
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copied!<p>The traditional answer to "why is Javascript slower than native code?" is: "Because it's interpreted". The problem with this claim is that interpretation is not a quality of the language itself. As a matter of fact, nowadays most Javascript code is being JITed, still, this isn't even close to native speed.</p> <p>What if we remove the interpretation factor from the equation and make Javascript AOT compiled? Will it then match the performance of native code? If yes, why isn't this widely done over the web*? If no, where is the performance bottleneck now?</p> <p>If the new bottleneck is DOM, what if we eliminate that too? would a DOM-less, compiled Javascript be as efficient as native code? If yes, why isn't this widely done over the web**? If no, where is the performance bottleneck now?</p> <p>After stripping the DOM part and the interpretation part, the only big difference I can see between Javascript and C/C++ is the fact that the former has dynamic types. Suppose we eliminate that too and end up with a DOM-less,statically typed, ahead-of-time-compiled Javascipt. how would that compare to native code? If it would be as efficient, why isn't this widely used? If not, where is the bottleneck now? In this state, JavaScript is nearly identical to C.</p> <p>*One might say that JIT is faster to load, but this wouldn't explain why AOT isn't being used for resource-intensive web apps such as 3d video games, where the AOT performance benefit is well worth the initial AOT compilation delay. (and a significant "game loading" delay is present anyways)</p> <p>**a DOM-less javascript would use WebGL/Canvas to interface with the user. This currently requires minimal DOM, which defines the initial HTML5 Canvas, but this can theoretically be eliminated by revising the technology if it's worth the performance benefit. Assume that DOM-less WebGL/Canvas is possible when answering.</p> <p>EDIT: I am talking about client-side compilation.</p>

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