Google has expanded its V8 JavaScript engine to create the Octane JavaScript benchmark for PCs, smartphones and tablets.

The search giant has long touted its Google Chrome web browser for performance based on JavaScript benchmarks.

JavaScript performance is critical for web browsers due to the increase in number of smartphones and tablets that use JavaScript formatting and navigation.

For an easier way to measure JavaScript performance, Google made and released Octane, a benchmark tool that offers tests on 2D physics, PDF rendering and 3D graphics.

Google said that current JavaScript benchmarks focus only on some particular features of the scripting language, so it extended its V8 JavaScript engine to come with five new tests.

Google Project Manager Stefano Cazzulani said,

Octane breaks with this tradition and extends the former V8 Benchmark Suite with 5 new benchmarks created from full, unaltered [beside glue logic and emulation of canvas/DOM interaction where necessary], well-known web applications and libraries. A high score in the new benchmarks directly translates to better and smoother performance in similar web applications.

Cazzulani said the tests include Box2DWeb, Mandreel, Pdf.js, GB Emulator and CodeLoad, the last of which builds on the open-source Closure and jQuery libraries.

Here is a summary of the new benchmark tests:

• Box2DWeb runs a JavaScript port of a popular 2D physics engine that is behind many well-known simulations and web games.
• Mandreel puts a JavaScript port of the 3D Bullet Engine to the test with a twist: The original C++ source code for the engine is translated to JavaScript by Onan Games’ Mandreel compiler, which is also used in countless web-based games.
• Pdf.js is based on Mozilla’s PDF reader and shows how Javascript applications can replace complex native browser plug-ins. It measures how fast the browser decodes a sample PDF document.
• GB Emulator is derived from an open source emulator of a famous game console running a 3D demo.
• CodeLoad measures how quickly a JavaScript engine can bootstrap commonly used JavaScript libraries and start executing code in them. The source for this test is derived from open source libraries (Closure, jQuery).

Cazzulani asserted Octane’s interface can conform to several screen sizes on smartphones and tablets.

Google is not the first company to roll out a benchmark targeted at smartphones and tablets.

Last year, Qualcomm brought out Vellamo to bring into foreground the performance of its Snapdragon chips.

The link to Octane’s source code is found below.

Sources: Chromium | Octane | Octane Source Code

About Francis Rey Balolong

A coffee junkie who spends most of his time writing about the latest news on social media and mobile technology. I would definitely consider myself a nerd (in the coolest most hipster way possible). That being said, I love technology, music, writing, and all things mobile. Follow me: Google+ Twitter

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