Isomorfeus Speednode

A fast runtime for execjs using node js. Works on Linux, BSDs, MacOS and Windows. Inspired by execjs-fastnode.

Community and Support

At the Isomorfeus Framework Project

Installation

In Gemfile: gem 'isomorfeus-speednode', then bundle install

Configuration

Isomorfeus-speednode provides one node based runtime Speednode which runs scripts in node vms. The runtime can be chosen by:

ExecJS.runtime = ExecJS::Runtimes::Speednode

If node cant find node modules for the permissive contexts (see below), its possible to set the load path before assigning the runtime:

ENV['NODE_PATH'] = './node_modules'

Contexts

Each ExecJS context runs in a node vm. Speednode offers two kinds of contexts:

• a compatible context, which is compatible with default ExecJS behavior.
• a permissive context, which is more permissive and allows to require node modules.

Compatible

A compatible context can be created with the standard ExecJS.compile or code can be executed within a compatible context by using the standard ExecJS.eval or ExecJS.exec. Example for a compatible context:

compat_context = ExecJS.compile('Test = "test"')
compat_context.eval('1+1')

Permissive

A permissive context can be created with ExecJS.permissive_compile or code can be executed within a permissive context by using ExecJS.permissive_eval or ExecJS.permissive_exec. Example for a permissive context:

perm_context = ExecJS.permissive_compile('Test = "test"')
perm_context.eval('1+1')

Evaluation in a permissive context:

ExecJS.permissive_eval('1+1')

Async function support

Its possible to call async functions synchronously from ruby using Context#await:

context = ExecJS.compile('')
context.eval <<~JAVASCRIPT
  async function foo(val) {
    return new Promise(function (resolve, reject) { resolve(val); });
  }
JAVASCRIPT

context.await("foo('test')") # => 'test'

Attaching ruby methods to Permissive Contexts

Ruby methods can be attached to Permissive Contexts using Context#attach:

  context = ExecJS.permissive_compile(SOURCE)
  context.attach('foo') { |v| v }
  context.await('foo("bar")')

The attached method is reflected in the context by a async javascript function. From within javascript the ruby method is best called using await:

r = await foo('test');

or via context#await as in above example. Attaching and calling ruby methods to/from permissive contexts is not that fast. It is recommended to use it sparingly.

Benchmarks

Highly scientific, maybe.

1000 rounds using node 16.6.2.:

standard ExecJS CoffeeScript eval benchmark:
                                          user     system      total        real
Isomorfeus Speednode Node.js (V8) Windows 0.079000   0.031000   0.110000 (  0.518821)
Isomorfeus Speednode Node.js (V8) Linux   0.092049   0.039669   0.131718 (  0.546846)
mini_racer (V8) 0.4.0 Linux only          0.776317   0.062923   0.839240 (  0.480490)
Node.js (V8) Linux                        0.330156   0.354536  52.523972 ( 51.203355)

evel overhead benchmark:
                                          user     system      total        real
Isomorfeus Speednode Node.js (V8) Windows 0.032000   0.031000   0.063000 (  0.227634)
Isomorfeus Speednode Node.js (V8) Linux   0.085135   0.022002   0.107137 (  0.153055)
mini_racer (V8) 0.4.0 Linux only          0.083562   0.115612   0.199174 (  0.128455)
Node.js (V8) Linux                        0.273238   0.265101  30.169976 ( 29.636668)

minify discourse benchmark from mini_racer:

minify discourse_app_minified.js:
                              user     system      total        real
isomorfeus-speednode Windows  0.016000   0.078000   0.094000 ( 11.828518)
isomorfeus-speednode Linux    0.043747   0.000000  15.931284 ( 11.860528)
mini_racer                    0.043471   0.000000  15.974214 ( 11.923735)
node                          0.043695   0.000000  15.812040 ( 11.781835)

To run benchmarks:

• clone repo
• cd ruby
• bundle install
• bundle exec rake bench

Tests

To run tests:

• clone repo
• cd ruby
• bundle install
• bundle exec rake test