Of JavaScript AOT compilation performance

Abstract

The fastest JavaScript production implementations use just-in-time (JIT) compilation and the vast majority of academic publications about implementations of dynamic languages published during the last two decades focus on JIT compilation. This does not imply that static compilers (AoT) cannot be competitive; as comparatively little effort has been spent creating fast AoT JavaScript compilers, a scientific comparison is lacking. This paper presents the design and implementation of an AoT JavaScript compiler, focusing on a performance analysis. The paper reports on two experiments, one based on standard JavaScript benchmark suites and one based on new benchmarks chosen for their diversity of styles, authors, sizes, provenance, and coverage of the language. The first experiment shows an advantage to JIT compilers, which is expected after the decades of effort that these compilers have paid to these very tests. The second shows more balanced results, as the AoT compiler generates programs that reach competitive speeds and that consume significantly less memory. The paper presents and evaluates techniques that we have either invented or adapted from other systems, to improve AoT JavaScript compilation.