[webkit-dev] Is WebKit's javascript subpar?

[Kevin Newman]

Speaking strictly as a web site/JavaScript developer, I can tell you 
that it is most difficult to develop in Safari's JS implementation. It 
does seem to have it's quirks, and they are difficult to debug for two 
primary reasons. The JavaScript output in Safari 1.3 is terrible, and 
frequently useless. This problem may have been fixed in later versions 
of Safari/WebKit, however, that is the second problem. I develop on 
Windows primarily, and have limited access to Safari and Mac OS X (like 
many other JS hackers I would imagine).

My suggestion - if you want more people to use and become familiar with 
the quirks of Web-Kit's JS runtime, port it to Windows. Then it can be 
tested more easily by people using that platform - even if it's ugly. It 
took me a long time to get familiar and comfortable with Mozilla's 
quirks (yes it has them too), but I was only able to do so, because it 
runs on my preferred platform (Windows). This would also help me create 
test cases for bugs that I know exist in Safari, but can't find both the 
time and the access to a recent enough Mac OS X machine to create.

BTW, if there is some way to test sites out in Web-Kit on Windows - even 
if that means VMWare running Linux, I'd be willing to give it a try.

Thanks,

Kevin N.


Abhi Beckert wrote:
> I've seen several blog posts recently (eg:
> http://rentzsch.com/code/dashcodeForAjaxAppDevelopment) that boldly
> state WebKit's "ajax support" is vastly inferior to FireFox. All of
> them have been very vague and haven't specified exactly where WebKit
> is lacking, so I thought I'd ask you guys: Is WebKit inferior, or is
> it just because FF is cross platform/has more users, and the companies
> are focusing on FF first, and other engines later?
>
> If these claims are unfounded, lets chop them off at the head.