V8 JavaScript Engine

V8 is Google's open source JavaScript engine.

V8 is written in C++ and is used in Google Chrome, the open source browser from Google.

V8 implements ECMAScript as specified in ECMA-262, 5th edition, and runs on Windows (XP or newer), Mac OS X (10.5 or newer), and Linux systems that use IA-32 (SSE2 required), x64, ARM (ARMv6 + VFP2 required) or MIPS processors.

V8 can run standalone, or can be embedded into any C++ application.

You can find more information here:

• The V8 documentation page which includes instructions on downloading and building V8.
• Performance documentation covering the performance goals of V8, and instructions on how to run the Octane benchmark suite (evolution of the V8 benchmark suite).
• User mailing list: http://groups.google.com/group/v8-users
• The V8 contributor wiki page.
• The V8 blog http://v8project.blogspot.com/

V8 on YouTube

Jump to the video section of the official V8 Google Developers page. Below, few interesting videos.

V8: an open source JavaScript engine.

Google engineer Lars Bak explains the key engineering decisions behind V8, the JavaScript virtual machine used in Google Chrome. (5:21)

V8 - the Chrome Engine

From Google Developer Day 2008 in London. Kevin Millikin discusses Google Chrome with a particular emphasis on V8, the JS engine, as well as the challenges of implementing JS, how V8 works, and the future direction of V8. (50:07)