V8

lastmod 2025-09-18created 2014-01-0811 edits

The V8 JavaScript Engine is an open-source, JIT virtual-machine-style JavaScript engine developed by Google, shipped in the Google Chrome browser and the Android browser. It is also called V8 for short, and Lars Bak is currently its lead programmer. It is written in C++ to the ECMAScript (ECMA - 262) 3rd Edition specification and can run standalone. It can also run as part of an application written in C++.

Instead of compiling JavaScript to bytecode or interpreting it, V8 improves performance by compiling it directly to machine code (x86, ARM, or MIPS) before execution. For further speedups it applies optimization techniques such as inline caching.

See also

• depot_tools
• JavaScript
• ChakraCore
• Node.js
• Javet - embedding V8 and Node.js in Java

Favorite site

• Wikipedia (en) V8
• Github - v8 project site
• V8 JavaScript Engine (how to build)
• How JavaScript works: inside the V8 engine + five tips on how to write optimized code
• The memory management process of JavaScript and the V8 engine
• V8 and WebAssembly: the architecture and performance optimization of modern JavaScript engines | GeekNews