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Uglify2 parser translated to LiteScript

TL;DR: By "translating" to LiteScript and then compiling to C, UglifyJS parser runs 2.5 times faster.

###Background I'm working on LiteScript, a literate, compile-to-js, and compile-to-c language, based on Javascript design (the good parts).

##Proof of concept

This is a proof of concept, to measure performance increases from:

  1. original pure js hand-optimized code

  2. the same code "translated" to LiteScript and compiled-to-js

  3. the previous LiteScript code compiled-to-c

##Test contenders

Contender #1: Original Uglify2 parser.js

The actual Uglify2.JS parser code, from: https://github.com/mishoo/UglifyJS2

###Contender #2: LiteScript code, compiled-to-js

A "translation" from the original Uglify2.JS "parser.js" to LiteScript. Since LiteScript is heavily based in javascript most of the translation is trivial.

###Contender #3: LiteScript code, compiled-to-c

A further altered version of the previous LiteScript code, to adhere to stricter rules allowing compilation to a fast c standalone executable.

##Tests Results

Input: all parsers are fed a .js file composed of: jquery-1.11.1.js + Underscore.js 1.6.0 + AngularJS. File size is 366 KiB

source code target/generated parse time relative to base
Original Uglify2 parse.js js 430 ms base
LiteScript code compiled-to-js 450 ms +20 ms, 5% slower
LiteScript code compiled-to-c 170 ms 2.5 times faster !!

####Conclusion:

UglifyJS parser "translated" to LiteScript and compiled-to-c, runs 2.5 times faster

"Translating" to LiteScript

Most parts of a "translation" from js code to LiteScript code are trivial.

Here's a side-by-side example of the original UglifyJS parser.js code (left) and the equivalent "translated" LiteScript code (right)

Screenshot

Contributors needed

Can anyone estimate the time spent worldwide running Uglify?

Making Uglify run faster will save a lot of people a lot of time. If you're interested to take this project further, I'll transfer this repo.

I'm interested in advancing LiteScript, so I'll give full support.

To produce a fast compiled-to-c version of Uglify seems the perfect candidate project at this point to advance LiteScript because the -actually limited- support of LiteC-core is just what Uglify requires.

LiteC-core is the C hand-coded core support of LiteScript compiled-to-c programs, and it mimics basic JavaScript core support: Object, Class, Strings, Map, etc. and also a few functions from basic node.js support modules as "fs" & "path".

To reproduce this results

get this repo, execute:

. runtest

To alter, compile and hack on this, you'll need to get also:

read next: [Self-Compiling LiteScript, 7x performance gain] (self-compiling-LiteScript.md)