[1]A while back, I posted of FireFox 4 JavaScript engine running around [2] Delphi when it came to floating point performance on the Mandebrot set [3], since then, Chrome got updated to version 11, and further raised the bar by beating FireFox by about 20% in that benchmark. That’s no mean feat: current generation JavaScript engines run not just faster than Delphi, but also .Net and a slew of other compilers, native or not, when it comes to floating point. Only state of the art native compiler still resist.
The figures for Delphi 64 are still unknown, but it’ll face a challenge merely matching the floating point performance of JavaScript, and if the VCL’s TCanvas hasn’t been revamped from the ground up, chances are that out of the box, Delphi 64 won’t be able to beat the HTML5 Canvas on performance (not to mention in features, where HTML5 Canvas is also leading by a few miles).
Jon L Aasenden is investigating an Object Pascal For JavaScript (OP4JS [4]), with mobile devices in sight (if you don’t already know about it, you may also want to check PhoneGap [5]). My experiments with the mobile WebKit that powers iPhone & Android browsers have been very positive, though some library are still a bit bloated for current hardware, using CSS3, HTML5 & libraries like XUI [6], it’s possible to design some excellent interactive UIs, in reasonably little time. Given the rate of improvements, in 1-2 years, libraries like jQuery Mobile [7] should run smoothly on all the hardware being sold.
[8]
And add to that upcoming goodies, like WebGL [9], and JavaScript + HTML5 is step by step, with little fuss, despite all its shortcomings, becoming a universal platform with high performance potential. One could only wish JavaScript weren’t a dynamic language, but hey, after all, the x86 instruction set [10] became prevalent despite its shortcoming too, and will still be serving in the 64bit era for the foreseeable future.
Even on the Windows desktop, it is IMHO becoming increasingly questionable to base your UIs on anything else than HTML5 & CSS, the alternatives are not only more proprietary, but either looking responsive but dated (like unskinned VCL, WinAPI controls), or outright messy and sluggish (WPF).
[11]Right now, ChromiumEmbedded [12] allows you to embark Webkit + Chrome V8 engine, which will work across the board with no update or dependency issues (unlike IE9), using Henri Gourvest’s Delphi ChromiumEmbedded [13], you can integrate it into your Delphi applications, and use it as an alternative to VCL-based controls for many aspects of an application’s UI.