14 DAY TRIAL // The latest testing release of Opera 12.00 codenamed Wahoo brings to the table an update to Carakan, the browser’s JavaScript engine. According to Kaja SI (Kajaql), from the Opera Desktop Team, the Norwegian browser maker switched Carakan to an enhanced, compact object model.
The immediate result is an increase in terms of performance. According to Opera Software, the latest Opera 12.00 development snapshot is not only faster, but also capable of consuming less memory, by as much as 6 – 7%.
The promise from the browser vendor is that JavaScript related improvements will continue to be packed into Opera 12.00, as the browser moves onward.
“The Carakan engine internally uses automatic classes to keep track of object properties and their types. We've recently expanded the scope and power of these internal classes significantly to also record the layout (or shape) of the objects along with their property types,” Kaja said.
“Carakan is as a result able to reduce the overhead per object, but the richer type information also enables the generation of better JITed code. The task represent the rollout of this improved, compact object model, demonstrating some of the incremental improvements made. Much more to come.”
Build 1020 is only the second testing release of Opera 12.00, with the first delivered at the start of July 2011.
Considering the amount of changes introduced in this pre-Alpha variant, the new development snapshot qualifies for a major update.
At the same time, Opera 12.00 is still very far from being finalized, and as such should only be used by early adopters in testing environments.
Additional improvements include:
“• Improved handling of coordinates and widths inside the layout engine;
• < video preload >, a simple form of bandwidth management where the author can give a hint about how much buffering is acceptable;
• Site compatibility fixes
• Stability fixes
• Memory fixes.”
Opera 12.00 Codenamed Wahoo Pre-Alpha for Windows is available for download here.
Opera 12.00 Codenamed Wahoo Pre-Alpha for Mac is available for download here.
Opera 12.00 Codenamed Wahoo Pre-Alpha for Linux is available for download here.
Opera 11.50 Final for Windows is available for download here.
Opera 11.50 Final for Mac is available for download here.
Opera 11.50 Final for Linux is available for download here.