The many, many, many JavaScript runtimes of the last decade
The past decade has witnessed an explosion of JavaScript runtimes designed for specific use cases, from edge computing platforms like Cloudflare Workers and Deno Deploy to microcontroller engines like JerryScript and Duktape. This diversification spans edge computing solutions, mobile app frameworks like React Native with its custom Hermes engine, polyglot engines enabling JavaScript interop with other languages, and native app development through web views and cross-platform frameworks. Each runtime optimizes for different constraints including startup performance, memory usage, bundle size, and platform-specific APIs, explaining why no single runtime dominates all contexts.
