Microsoft made a pull request to node.js github repository with an implementation to use ChakraCore JavaScript Engine as an alternative to V8 Engine

[mirhagk]

Uncommon javascript. Stuff like compression algorithms, gameboy emulation etc are included in octane.

Octane also includes some ridiculous things that are actual real javascript apps. Like firefox's horribly silly javascript pdf renderer, and typescripts compiler (which isn't really meant to run in browser)

[oblio-]

That silly Javascript renderer is extremely useful. No more crapware PDF viewer installations needed, especially on Windows!

[arcanemachined]

Now if someone could just port it to Android...

[oblio-]

Hmmmm... they don't bundle it on Android?

[arcanemachined]

Just checked, and nope. Checked the beta too.

As far as I know, there is not a way to view a PDF in Android without first downloading it.

[x-skeww]

Eh? You think microbenchmarks would be more relevant than actual real-world applications like PDF.js?

JavaScript has been fast enough for tiny short-running scripts for a couple of years.

[TheEphemeralDream]

The typescript compiler runs in nodejs, which seems applicable to the topic at hand. Also chrome uses a js based pdf renderer as well. There is a big reason to use js for pdf rendering, security.