Google began updating Chrome users with the new beta version, and performance tests show the company has ratcheted the browser's speed up another notch.
Google Chrome's latest version, 0.3.154.9, shows a 37 percent JavaScript performance improvement over the initial beta released two months ago.
JavaScript is a programming language used to add some richness to web pages but, more importantly from Google's perspective, to power sophisticated web applications such as Google Docs, Google Calendar and Gmail. JavaScript is also up against Adobe Systems' Flash and Flex, Microsoft's Silverlight and HTML 5, in the competition for what's the best foundation for web applications.
Using Google's JavaScript benchmark, ZDNet UK's sister site, CNET News.com, pitted the newest Chrome beta, version 0.3.154.9, against both the initial beta from September and the more raw 0.3.154.3 developer release from mid-October. A higher number is better on this test, and the first beta scored 1,851, the 0.3.154.3 developer release 2,265, and the new 0.3.154.9 beta 2,546.
Google's tests aren't the only way to benchmark JavaScript performance; many use the SunSpider test. Here, too, the new Chrome got a notch faster, getting the test done in 2,546 milliseconds compared with 2,904 milliseconds for 0.3.154.3. (CNET News.com couldn't test the first version because the testing site was down at the time.)
The new Chrome score was closer to the 2,250 millisecond score of Firefox 3.1 beta 1 with its new TraceMonkey JavaScript engine enabled.
CNET News.com also tested Minefield, the cutting-edge version of Firefox that's updated daily. (Minefield is downloadable from Mozilla's FTP site, for those willing to use untested software).
It had the best SunSpider score so far on the machine — 2,147 milliseconds. However, Firefox still lags on Google's speed test. Chrome's latest score of 2,546 is miles ahead of the 215 score from Minefield.
However, Minefield, which has TraceMonkey turned on, is slower than Firefox 3.1 beta 1 with TraceMonkey turned off, which is hardly the result you'd expect for a JavaScript speed test. TraceMonkey-enabled Firefox 3.1 beta 1 couldn't run the test because of a bug, and though that bug was fixed in Minefield, there could be something else awry.
However, these tests were run on a dual-core Windows XP machine, and results on other machines will vary. They are synthetic benchmarks that may not accurately represent all the particular JavaScript a machines has to run, and JavaScript isn't the sole measure of a browser's speed.
