Description:

Most JavaScript developers don't usually think about compilers in the course of their work, but they are all around us. For the enlightened few they are a powerful tool. If you've always thought compilers were "something C programmers have to deal with" this talk will indeed be very enlightening.

We'll take a look at the vast but largely unknown landscape of JavaScript compiler technology:

Compilers and interpreters for executing JavaScript (V8, TraceMonkey, Nitro) Compilers that parse JavaScript (minifiers like Closure Compiler, linters like JSLint) Compilers that output JavaScript ("AltJS" languages like Objective-J, CoffeeScript, language feature prototypes like Traceur, secure subsets like Caja, concurrency extensions StratifiedJS) Interpreters written in JavaScript (the Narcissus meta-circular interpreter, HotRuby) Tools for building and debugging all of these things (parser generators like Jison, Language.js) These are just a few examples. Any parser, compiler, or interpreter technology that consumes, outputs, or is implemented in JavaScript will be fair game!

I'll also be presenting a new universal JavaScript debugger and code coverage tool called "Xebug" that applies some of techniques presented.