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QuickJS VS Emscripten

Compare QuickJS VS Emscripten and see what are their differences

QuickJS logo QuickJS

Application and Data, Build, Test, Deploy, and JavaScript Compilers

Emscripten logo Emscripten

Emscripten is an LLVM to JavaScript compiler.
  • QuickJS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-08-20
  • Emscripten Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-08-02

QuickJS features and specs

  • Lightweight
    QuickJS is designed to be lightweight with a small footprint, making it easy to embed in applications and suitable for resource-constrained environments.
  • Fast Startup Time
    QuickJS offers very fast startup times, which can be beneficial for applications that require quick script execution without a long initialization period.
  • Full ES2020 Support
    QuickJS supports the full ES2020 specification, providing modern JavaScript features and syntax, which is advantageous for developers who want to use the latest JavaScript features.
  • Embeddability
    Being easy to integrate into other applications or systems, QuickJS provides a simple C API, which facilitates embedding it in various software and platforms.
  • Single File Distribution
    QuickJS can be distributed as a single file, simplifying packaging and distribution without needing external dependencies.
  • Memory Efficiency
    Its memory efficient design allows QuickJS to run scripts in environments with limited memory resources, making it suitable for IoT devices and embedded systems.

Possible disadvantages of QuickJS

  • Limited Ecosystem
    QuickJS, being a relatively new and niche project, has a smaller ecosystem compared to more established JavaScript engines like V8, which means fewer libraries and community resources are available.
  • Performance
    While QuickJS is efficient, it may not deliver the same high-performance execution as more mature engines like V8, especially in applications requiring intensive computational processing.
  • Lack of Long-term Support
    QuickJS may not have the same level of long-term support and ongoing development as larger projects maintained by large companies or communities.
  • Single-threaded
    QuickJS runs in a single thread, which can be a limitation for applications that require multithreading support for parallel processing.
  • Limited Debugging Tools
    Compared to more popular JavaScript engines, QuickJS has fewer debugging tools and integrations, which might make development and troubleshooting more challenging.

Emscripten features and specs

  • Cross-platform compatibility
    Emscripten enables developers to compile C and C++ code to WebAssembly or JavaScript, allowing the same codebase to run on multiple platforms, such as browsers and node.js, without needing additional platform-specific adaptations.
  • Leverage existing libraries
    Developers can utilize a vast ecosystem of existing C and C++ libraries by compiling them for the web, saving time and resources required for rewriting or finding alternatives developed in JavaScript.
  • Performance optimization
    Emscripten's compilation to WebAssembly provides near-native performance for web applications, making it suitable for compute-intensive tasks like gaming, simulations, and data processing.
  • Familiar toolchain
    Developers can use familiar tools like CMake and others as part of their Emscripten workflow, making it easier for those with C/C++ backgrounds to adapt and integrate into their web development processes.

Possible disadvantages of Emscripten

  • Steep learning curve
    Developers unfamiliar with C and C++ may find Emscripten challenging to use effectively, as it requires knowledge of these languages and their build systems to create and debug applications.
  • Limitations in browser environments
    Certain features of C/C++ may not translate directly to web environments due to browser sandboxing constraints, leading to potential issues with file I/O, threading, and other system-level operations.
  • Code size
    Compiled WebAssembly and JavaScript code can sometimes be large, potentially affecting load times and performance, especially on lower-end devices with restrictive bandwidth or processing capabilities.
  • Debugging complexity
    Debugging WebAssembly code can be more complex than traditional JavaScript, requiring specialized tooling and techniques to trace and fix issues effectively.

QuickJS videos

QuickJS - IO, axios, redaxios, fetch

Emscripten videos

Monster Madness Online (Emscripten Web Technology Overview)

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to QuickJS and Emscripten)
Text Editors
40 40%
60% 60
IDE
24 24%
76% 76
Email Marketing
0 0%
100% 100
Application And Data
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Emscripten might be a bit more popular than QuickJS. We know about 47 links to it since March 2021 and only 41 links to QuickJS. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

QuickJS mentions (41)

  • Servo in 2024: stats, features and donations
    And some lightweight alternatives like Bellard's QuickJS (https://bellard.org/quickjs/) in C and Kiesel (https://kiesel.dev/) in Zig. - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
  • Building Static HTML Pages with JSX Server-Side Rendering
    Built on a highly optimized JavaScript runtime powered by QuickJS, Query offers fast startup times and efficient execution. Its built-in caching mechanism further enhances performance by storing function responses, reducing database load and latency. This focus on speed makes Query a standout choice for server-side rendering, especially in applications with many components. - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • Lua Is So Underrated
    Which JS VMs have you tried embedding? People in this thread have suggested https://github.com/Moddable-OpenSource/moddable, and https://duktape.org/, but I haven't tried any of them. - Source: Hacker News / 4 months ago
  • Introducing our Next-Generation JavaScript SDK
    Where the previous SDK was built on top of the QuickJS JavaScript engine and the Javy runtime, the new SDK is built on top of the Firefox browser’s SpiderMonkey engine, and the Bytecode Alliance’s StarlingMonkey runtime and ComponentizeJS WIT bindings generator. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • QuickJS: Handle Typescript Sourcemap
    I'm currently using Bellard's QuickJS engine on a new TypeScript project. - Source: dev.to / 9 months ago
View more

Emscripten mentions (47)

  • Ask HN: Qt style "Signals and Slots" based JavaScript UI library?
    The first thing that comes to mind is that Qt now has a WebAssembly port[1] using Emscripten[2], so depending on your use-case, you could possibly just run Qt on the Web platform and avoid the need for a JavaScript framework entirely. [1]: https://doc.qt.io/qt-5/wasm.html [2]: https://emscripten.org. - Source: Hacker News / 13 days ago
  • Ask HN: Resources for Learning Graphics Programming
    Me and a friend build our own Graphics engines based on https://learnopengl.com I can highly recommend this to everyone who gets started with computer graphics. It is a lot of new information but not the most modern Graphics library, but the information will help you understand the field and pickup any other graphics library quicker. Once I had a small project up and running I started looking at... - Source: Hacker News / 8 months ago
  • Software Applications Incorporated
    Https://infinitemac.org, which is https://basilisk.cebix.net compiled for the web using https://emscripten.org. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • How does one get started with unit testing?
    One place that I’ve found some real, open source unit tests to look at for an example is in the emsdk for emscripten: https://emscripten.org. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Playing with low-level memory in WebAssembly
    I am playing around with Emscipten which wraps around clang to compile C/C++ code in WASM binary and provide some glue-code API to embed WASM binary into JavaScript. Look into MDN Docs and Emscripten SDK to get started. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing QuickJS and Emscripten, you can also consider the following products

ACE (Ajax Code Editor) - Focused and built towards coders, web designers, and web builders, ACE (Ajax Code Editor) can help...

WebAssembly - Application and Data, Languages & Frameworks, and Languages

GNU Compiler Collection - The GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) is a compiler system produced by the GNU Project supporting...

Cheerp - Enterprise-grade C/C++ compiler for Web applications. Compiles to WASM/JavaScript

LLVM - LLVM is a compiler infrastructure designed for compile-time, link-time, run-time, and...

Sciter - Embeddable HTML/CSS/script engine