My last blog got me thinking…I thought I had seen a JavaScript compiler available from Mozilla, and it turns out I was correct. Mozilla does have a JavaScript Compiler as part of the Rhino JavaScript interpreter. The Rhino compiler creates Java source files from JavaScript files, which then can be used by any Java program.

There are other JavaScript compilers as well. The NGS JavaScript Compiler actually compiles JavaScript down to a custom bytecode that is run by a virtual machine, similar to the Java virtual machine. Interesting concept, especially given its ability to communicate with C code. And even more interesting: the interpreter is partially written in JavaScript.