Editing Presto (browser engine) (section)

==ECMAScript engines==
A succession of ECMAScript engines have been used with Opera. (For the origin of their names, see [[#Cultural notes|Cultural notes]] below.) Pre-Presto versions of Opera used the Linear A engine. Opera versions based on the Core [[Fork (software development)|fork]] of Presto, [[Opera (web browser)|Opera]] 7.0 through 9.27, used the Linear B engine.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://hsivonen.iki.fi/engines/
|title=Names of Browser Engines
|last=Sivonen
|first=Henri
|date=2006-11-23
|access-date=2007-01-03
}}</ref> The Futhark engine is used in some versions on the Core 2 fork of Presto, namely Opera 9.5 to Opera 10.10.<ref>{{cite web
 |url         = http://marcus.bointon.com/archives/50-SunSpider-Benchmarks-WebKit-Rocks.html
 |title       = SunSpider Benchmarks: WebKit Rocks
 |last        = Bointon
 |first       = Marcus
 |work        = Pet Pixels
 |date        = 2006-12-19
 |access-date  = 2007-01-03
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20110820160117/http://marcus.bointon.com/archives/50-SunSpider-Benchmarks-WebKit-Rocks.html
 |archive-date = 2011-08-20
}}</ref> When released it was the fastest engine around, but in 2008 a new generation of ECMAScript engines from [[Google]] ([[V8 (JavaScript engine)|V8]]), [[Mozilla]] ([[SpiderMonkey]]), and [[Apple Inc.|Apple]] ([[WebKit#JavaScriptCore|JavaScriptCore]]) took one more step, introducing native code generation. This opened up for potential heavy computations on the client side and Futhark, though still fast and efficient, was unable to keep up.{{Original research inline|date=November 2024}}

In early 2009, Opera introduced the Carakan engine. It featured register-based [[bytecode]], native code generation, automatic object classification, and overall performance improvements.<ref name="CarakanAnnouncement">{{cite web
|url=http://my.opera.com/core/blog/2009/02/04/carakan
|title=Carakan – By Opera Core Concerns
|last=Lindström
|first=Jens
|publisher=[[Opera Software]]
|date=2009-02-05
|access-date=2009-02-05
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090206133936/http://my.opera.com/core/blog/2009/02/04/carakan|archive-date=2009-02-06}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
|url=http://my.opera.com/core/blog/2009/12/22/carakan-revisited
|title=Carakan Revisited – By Opera Core Concerns
|last=Lindström
|first=Jens
|publisher=[[Opera Software]]
|date=2009-12-22
|access-date=2009-12-26
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091225151658/http://my.opera.com/core/blog/2009/12/22/carakan-revisited|archive-date=2009-12-25}}</ref> Early access in the Opera 10.50 pre-alpha showed that it is as fast as the fastest competitors, being the winner in 2 out of the 3 most used [[benchmark (computing)|benchmarks]].<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.betanews.com/article/The-once-and-future-king-Test-build-of-Opera-crushes-Chrome-on-Windows-7/1261519843
|title=The once and future king: Test build of Opera crushes Chrome on Windows 7
|last=Fulton
|first=Scott M. III
|publisher=[[betanews]]
|date=2009-02-22
|access-date=2009-02-26
}}</ref>