Samsung open-sources IoT.js and JerryScript

Aug 29, 2015 11:40 GMT  ·  By

Samsung has recently released two open-source projects that aim to help programmers build applications for the Internet of Things (IoT).

These projects are IoT.js and JerryScript, but don't let the "script" and ".js" terms confuse you. They are not JavaScript libraries.

IoT.js is a platform for creating IoT applications, and JerryScript is a tiny JavaScript engine. Both are written in C++ and will allow developers to write applications using JavaScript for IoT smart devices.

The two act as intermediaries between the application's JavaScript code and the smart device's operating system, allowing JS code to be run on devices with constrained hardware features.

Specifically crafted for constrained hardware environments

In fact, JerryScript was designed for systems that have less than 64KB of RAM at their disposal and have a limited ROM space of 200KB or under. Microcontrollers are such a type of hardware systems, present in almost every IoT smart device.

The JerryScript engine supports on-device compilation and execution, producing bytecode line-by-line directly from the source code. Additionally, it also provides access to various device peripherals from JavaScript.

On the other hand, IoT.js, which uses JerryScript to run JavaScript code, also employs Samsung's libuv C library, which allows it to process code asynchronously, giving it a boost in performance.

According to the project's wiki, the IoT.js platform currently supports only the Linux and NuttX operating systems.

JavaScript is a safe bet when it comes to the future of Web and IoT development

There's no surprise Samsung is choosing JavaScript over Java for IoT devices, being a much safer legal alternative to Oracle's Java.

The language is also much more loved amongst developers, being GitHub's most used programming language for the past three years and benefiting from a huge community of developers, which could easily become IoT app makers with a few strokes of their keyboards.

Samsung's vision for using IoT.js and JerryScript for IoT development is presented in the architecture's chart below.

The big picture for IoT.js and JerryScript
The big picture for IoT.js and JerryScript

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Samsung wants developers to create IoT apps using JavaScript
The big picture for IoT.js and JerryScript
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