Rhino and Javascript 1.8?

Question

Is it possible to have Rhino use a newer implementation of JS than 1.7?

Do we have to wait for mozilla to do this, or is there a community project that has taken the lead?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Umm ... Rhino doesn't use an implementation of Javascript, it is an implementation of Javascript.

Answer 2

I don't know about JavaScript 1.8, but I know they are actively working on ECMAScript 5 support. The RingoJS project (formerly Helma NG) has a customized branch that implements some of the new features from 1.8 and ECMAScript 5. For example, it supports function expressions (f = function(x) 2 * x; instead of f = function(x) { return 2 * x; }), JSON.stringify/parse, and Object.create/seal/freeze.

I'm sure Mozilla would welcome any help moving to 1.8, but I'm not aware of any projects right now that are working on that.

Answer 3

SpiderMonkey runs JS 1.8, but is implemented in C instead of Java, not sure if it makes a difference for you.