Is there any commonly used web app which have cpu intensive javascript code?
I would assume that most of the time would be wasted on rendering and downloading, and that javascript runs a fraction, even unmeasurable time.
From SunSpider website: "This includes tests to generate a tagcloud from JSON input, a 3D raytracer, cryptography tests, code decompression, and many more "
How often are this things really done in a browser, and are they really the bottleneck?
More and more of these tasks are getting to be commonplace in the client side scripting of a website.
However, you raise a valid point: Mobile websites, the kinds most likely to be served to you via MobileSafari, will likely not have things like Tag clouds or 3D raytracers for the foreseeable future.
Maybe there should be a mobile edition of the JS benchmarks run?
And also, as much as speed is an issue, what about a benchmark for compliance? Safari/Webkit is still (to some sites) a red headed step child. The "it works in FF and IE" mentality applies there. My bank is an example of that. It has gotten better, but there are still plenty of web apps where webkit is unsupported.
> there are still plenty of web apps where webkit is unsupported.
I hope one of these days we will get to the point where web apps are standards complaint, rather than rendering engine complaint.
We've largely won the battle on earning recognition and support for Gecko, but now we have to do most of it over again for Webkit? What new and exciting engine will we be griping about in two years? Does this make sense?
Anecdotal case: I'm writing a simple vector drawing program for tabletop RPG mapping inspired by Ben Robbin's series of posts about his 'West Marches' campaign which included a game artifact called the 'table map' the conceit being that the map was carved into a tabletop at the adventurers' home tavern.
To do this im rendering my scene to one canvas buffer, and then using that as the stencil to run a 3x3 convolution filter to produced a 'carved' look on a wood texture. I want the map editing to update the carved surface as quickly as possible, so yes javascript performance is a bottle neck.
ideally i want this to run on the iPad so its useful at the table as well as post game. The current implementation isn't fast enough on iPad so the browser kills the script.
Stuff like you are talking about isn't common at the moment, but its only going to become more viable and more prevalent. If a guy like me can knock together something like the above in a couple of days, imagine the possiblities for someone working full time on a real project.
I would assume that most of the time would be wasted on rendering and downloading, and that javascript runs a fraction, even unmeasurable time.
From SunSpider website: "This includes tests to generate a tagcloud from JSON input, a 3D raytracer, cryptography tests, code decompression, and many more "
How often are this things really done in a browser, and are they really the bottleneck?