Javascript Faster and Slower

Several articles have been written about the latest in Javascript performance.  Here are some interesting points:

DownloadSquad:
“Chrome 2 beats Safari 4 like a rented mule”

CNet:
“The upshot: Chrome wins both tests handily, with Firefox in second place on Sunspider and Safari in second place on the V8 benchmark.”

Also interesting is that Firefox’s Tracemonkey Javascript engine may be falling behind.  Numerous articles have opined that Firefox 3’s ship date is in jeopardy due to Tracemonkey related bugs.  But new data also confirms that Javascript in Firefox 3.1 beta 3 is markedly slower than Firefox 3.1 beta 2.  The performance loss is palpable – Firefox lost 20% in performance from beta 2 to beta 3.  The problem may be that as the bugs have piled up in Tracemonkey, the fixes to ensure stability have eroded the performance gains initially boasted by the team.  It will be interesting to see Firefox’s final performance numbers when it ships out of beta.