Chakra, the JavaScript engine used in Microsoft’s Edge and Internet Explorer browsers, is about to become open source.
Announced at JSConf in Florida, Microsoft has stated that the code will be published to the company’s Github page next month.
The open source version of Chakra, dubbed ChakraCore, is the complete JavaScript engine. It comes with the parser, the interpreter, the just-in-time compiler, the garbage collector, and the API used to embed the engine into applications. However, some features will not be avaialble on the open source ChakraCore. For instance, the glue between the JavaScript engine and the browser’s HTML engine, and similarly, the glue between the JavaScript engine and the Universal Windows Platform will not be available on ChakraCore.
Besides that, ChakraCore will not have the diagnostic APIs the uses COM featured in Chakra proper. ChakraCore will feature its own set of diagnostic APIs which will eventually be integrated into the full Chakra.
Despite the omissions, ChakraCore will have the same performance and capabilities, including asm.js and SIMD support, as well as cutting-edge support for new ECMAScript 2015 language features like the version found in Microsoft’s Windows 10 browser.
ChakraCore will be utilising the MIT license, giving third parties great flexibility in how they can use and embed the code, ensuring that license provisions are unlikely to ever stand in the way of adopting the technology.