Chakra (JavaScript engine)

{{short description|Open-source JavaScript engine developed by Microsoft}}

{{About|the JavaScript engine used in Microsoft Edge Legacy. For the engine of Internet Explorer, see Chakra (JScript engine)||Chakra (disambiguation)}}

{{Infobox software

| name = Chakra

| logo =

| screenshot =

| caption =

| developer = Microsoft

| latest release version = 1.11.24

| latest release date = {{Start date and age|2020|12|08}}{{cite web|url=https://github.com/microsoft/ChakraCore/releases|title=Releases · microsoft/ChakraCore · GitHub|website=GitHub ChakraCore repository|language=en|access-date=2021-02-28}}

| size =

| programming language = C++

| operating system = Windows, macOS, Linux

| platform = IA-32, x86-64, ARM, ARM64

| genre = JavaScript engine

| license = MIT License

| website =

}}

Chakra was a free and open-source JavaScript engine developed by Microsoft for its Microsoft Edge Legacy web browser. It is a fork of the same-named JScript engine used in Internet Explorer. Like the EdgeHTML browser engine, the declared intention was that it would reflect the "Living Web".{{cite web|title=Targeting Edge vs. Legacy Engines in JsRT APIs|url=https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn903710(v=vs.94).aspx|access-date=10 September 2015}} The core components of Chakra were open-sourced as ChakraCore. In 2021, Microsoft terminated support for the engine, citing its transition to a Chromium based engine for Edge. Support has been transferred to the community, where it remains inactive.{{Cite web |title=org/Release 1.12 plan.md at master · chakra-core/org |url=https://github.com/chakra-core/org/blob/master/Release%201.12%20plan.md |access-date=2023-11-17 |website=GitHub |language=en}}

Standards support

Chakra supports ECMAScript 5.1 with partial support for ECMAScript 2015.{{cite web|title=Microsoft Edge Platform Status|url=https://dev.modern.ie/platform/status//?filter=f0100001c&search=es6|publisher=Microsoft.com|access-date=10 September 2015}}{{Dead link|date=June 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

Open sourcing

Following an initial announcement on December 5, 2015,{{cite web|url=https://blogs.windows.com/msedgedev/2015/12/05/open-source-chakra-core/|title=Microsoft Edge's JavaScript engine to go open-source|publisher=Microsoft|access-date=December 8, 2015|date=2015-12-05}}[https://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-open-sources-its-edge-web-browser-javascript-engine-and-plans-to-port-it-to-linux/ Microsoft open sources Edge web browser's JavaScript engine, plans port to Linux] on zdnet.com by Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols (on January 13, 2016) Microsoft open sourced the Chakra engine as ChakraCore, including all the key components of the JavaScript engine powering Microsoft Edge [Legacy] on their GitHub page under the MIT License on January 13, 2016.[https://github.com/Microsoft/ChakraCore ChakraCore] on github.com ChakraCore is essentially the same as the Chakra engine that powers the Microsoft Edge Legacy browser, but with platform-agnostic bindings, i.e., without the specific interfaces utilized within the Universal Windows App platform.

Microsoft has also created a project on GitHub that allows Node.js to use ChakraCore as its JavaScript engine instead of V8.[https://github.com/Microsoft/node Node.js enabled for ChakraCore] on github.com

References

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