V8 version 8.0 adds performance improvements and optional chaining

In a blog post, the V8 developers have announced the release of version 8.0.

V8 is an open source JavaScript and WebAssembly engine that was first released by Google in 2008 and is written in C++. The cross-platform engine can run standalone or embedded into a C++ application.

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Version 8.0 will be officially available when it ships with the stable version of Chrome 80, planned to be released in several weeks. If you want to try out the new features sooner, you can either use git checkout -b 8.0 -t branch-heads/8.0, which requires an active V8 checkout, or subscribe to the Chrome Beta channel.

V8’s Twitter followers are excited about v8, so let’s take a look at the new features!

V8 hits its long-awaited v8.0, now with optional chaining, nullish coalescing, faster higher-order builtins — oh and 40% less memory use thanks to pointer compression, no big deal.

h8rs gonna h8, V8ers gonna V8 🔥🔥🔥https://t.co/UVDjJ2mC9b

— V8 (@v8js) December 18, 2019

Features of version 8.0

The latest version includes support for the long-awaited ECMAScript features optional chaining ?. and nullish coalescing ??. A list of API changes in version 8.0 is provided when entering the command git log branch-heads/7.9..branch-heads/8.0 include/v8.h.

Additionally, V8 now uses pointer compression, which saves an average of 40% of the heap memory. Memory improvement “usually […] comes at the cost of performance,” as the V8 developers mentioned. In contrast, they proudly pointed out performance improvements in V8 and its garbage collector when visiting these websites:

Source: V8 blog

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The latest implemented JavaScript and WebAssembly features are listed on V8’s website, and the docs can help you get started.

More details on what’s new in V8 version 8.0 are available in the blog post.