Nashorn

Nashorn

Nashorn is a JavaScript engine integrated into the Java Virtual Machine (JVM). It allows developers to embed JavaScript code into Java applications and enable client-side scripting using JavaScript. It is lightweight, high-performance, supports the ECMAScript specification, and e
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javascript ecmascript jvm java-interoperability

Nashorn: JavaScript Engine for Java Applications

Nashorn is a JavaScript engine integrated into the Java Virtual Machine (JVM), allowing developers to embed JavaScript code into Java applications and enable client-side scripting using JavaScript.

What is Nashorn?

Nashorn is a JavaScript engine integrated into the Java Virtual Machine (JVM). It was introduced in Java Development Kit (JDK) 8 as a replacement for the older Rhino JavaScript engine.

Nashorn enables developers to embed JavaScript code into Java applications and run client-side JavaScript code natively on the JVM without going through external engines like Node.js. Some key features and benefits of Nashorn include:

  • Lightweight and high-performance - Nashorn has very low startup times and memory footprint compared to other JavaScript engines
  • Full compliance with ECMAScript 5.1 specification
  • Native Java and JavaScript interoperability - Ability to directly access and invoke Java code, libraries and objects from JavaScript and vice versa
  • Asynchronous programming support through promises and futures
  • Just-in-time compilation for improved performance
  • Ability to easily extend Nashorn with Java classes and implement custom logic

Nashorn makes it very easy to add scripting capabilities to Java applications. Developers can either execute standalone JavaScript code or embed inline JavaScript code in Java logic. It is used for implementing client-side business logic, building dynamic web applications, enhancing APIs and enabling domain-specific scripting.

Nashorn Features

Features

  1. Lightweight high-performance JavaScript engine
  2. Full support for ECMAScript 5.1 specification
  3. Integrated with Java Virtual Machine (JVM)
  4. Allows embedding JavaScript code in Java applications
  5. Enables client-side scripting using JavaScript
  6. Interoperability between Java and JavaScript code

Pricing

  • Open Source

Pros

Fast performance

Leverages JVM features like security, scalability

Easy integration with Java code and APIs

Can access Java classes and methods from JavaScript

Reuse existing JavaScript code and libraries

Cons

Not fully compatible with some latest ECMAScript features

Limited debugging capabilities compared to Node.js

No active development since Java 11

Lacks features of full-fledged JavaScript runtimes


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