Node4J: Running Node.js in a JavaWorld

Node4J
Running Node.js in a Java
World
Dr. R. Ian Bull
EclipseSource
@irbull

Java and JavaScript
❖ Java a successful server side language
❖ JavaScript is a client side language
❖ SWT brought performant Java UIs to the desktop
❖ Node.js brought JavaScript to the server
❖ Java and JavaScript are two of the most popular
programming languages

Polyglot Systems
❖ Single language systems are rarely an option
❖ Legacy code
❖ New frameworks and technologies
❖ Evolving enterprises
❖ JEE will be here for another 20, 30, 50 (?) years

Bridging Java and JavaScript
❖ Three common Java technologies enable JS embedding
❖ Rhino
❖ Available since JDK 6
❖ Nashorn
❖ Replacing Rhino since JDK 8
❖ More performant
❖ V8 as a separate process, String based messages

Performance
❖ 30 Runs of the Esprima parser and tokenizer
❖ Nashorn compiles to bytecode
❖ V8 compiles to native assembly
❖ Best choice for raw JavaScript execution

Node4J: Running Node.js in a JavaWorld

J2V8
❖ A set of bindings that bring V8 to Java
❖ Inspired by SWT
❖ Create a thin JNI layer
❖ Expose (some) V8 API in Java
❖ Complicated logic lives in Java

J2V8 Goals
❖ Efﬁcient JavaScript on Android
❖ Make JavaScript shine in an enterprise Java World
❖ Standard Java APIs
❖ Efﬁcient Java / JavaScript bindings

J2V8 — History
❖ 1.0 Released in November 2014
❖ 2.0 Released in February 2015
❖ First presented at EclipseCon 2015
❖ 3.0 Released at EnterJS — Summer 2015

J2V8 Design
❖ Each V8 Object can be referenced using a Handle
❖ Each Object is stored in a V8 Persistent Object Store
❖ Objects must be explicitly freed
❖ Primitives where possible (no wrappers)
❖ Single Thread per isolate

Two-way binding
❖ JS functions and scripts can be invoked from Java
❖ Java methods can be called from JavaScript
❖ Data can be passed back and forth using V8Objects

J2V8 In Action — Tabris.js
❖ Mobile framework
❖ Apps written in JavaScript
❖ Native iOS and Android Apps
❖ Bindings to native UI components

Example
public String someJavaMethod(final String firstName, final String lastName) {
return firstName + ", " + lastName;
}
public void start() {
V8 v8 = V8.createV8Runtime();
v8.registerJavaMethod(this,
"someJavaMethod",
"someJavaMethod",
new Class[] { String.class, String.class });
v8.executeScript("var result = someJavaMethod('Ian', ‘Bull');");
String result = v8.getString("result");
System.out.println(result);
}

J2V8 —What’s New
❖ Typed Arrays
❖ Threads & Workers
❖ ES 6
❖ ChromeDev Tools
❖ NodeJS Support

Typed Arrays
V8Array result = (V8Array) v8.executeScript(""
+ "var buf = new ArrayBuffer(100);"
+ "var ints = new Int32Array(buf); "
+ "for(var i = 0; i < 25; i++) {"
+ " ints[i] = i;"
+ "}; "
+ “ints");
int[] ints = result.getIntegers(0, 25);
❖ Native support for JS Typed Arrays
❖ Access the values efﬁciently from Java

Threads
❖ Every thread can have it’s own Isolate (Isolated V8
Instance)
❖ V8Thread is a Java Thread with an associated Isolate
❖ Provide an easy way to execute JavaScript
Thread t = new V8Thread(new V8Runnable() {
public void run(V8 v8) {
int result = v8.executeIntegerScript("1+2");
}
});
t.start();

Executors
❖ Long running V8Thread with a message queue and
event loop
❖ Threads can communicate via message passing
❖ Useful for implementing Web Workers / Service
Workers

ES 6
❖ Snapshot builds of J2V8 support V8 4.10 & ES 6
❖ Arrows
❖ Classes
❖ Let / Const
❖ Interators + For..Of
❖ Generators
❖ …

Debug Support
❖ V8 (and now J2V8) no longer supports the Debug Agent
❖ JavaScript based Debug API is available instead
❖ J2V8 exposes this API in Java
❖ Integrated with the Stetho tool & Chrome Dev Tools

Node.js
❖ JavaScript Virtual Machine (V8)
❖ Modules
❖ Native
❖ JavaScript
❖ Event Loop
Node.js® is a JavaScript runtime built on Chrome's V8
JavaScript engine. Node.js uses an event-driven,
non-blocking I/O model that makes it
lightweight and efﬁcient.

Bridging to Node.js
❖ Out of process Node & REST Services
❖ Vert.x
❖ Node engine on Nashorn / Rhino?

Node4J
❖ Dynamically link Node.js to the JVM
❖ Access Node.js context via JNI
❖ Execute Node.js modules (require)
❖ Callbacks to Java
❖ Process Node.js message queue

Node4J Demo
public static void main(final String[] args) throws Exception {
final V8 v8 = V8.createV8Runtime("global");
v8.registerJavaMethod(…);
NodeJS node = V8.createNodeJS(v8);
V8Object exports = node.requireScript(nodeCode, "http");
exports.release();
boolean running = true;
while (running) {
running = node.pumpMessageLoop();
}
}

Performance Considerations
❖ Minimize callbacks from JavaScript to Java
❖ ~4000 Per Second on my MBP
❖ Use bulk array copy to move primitives from JS to Java
❖ 60fps in our animation demo

Resources
❖ Getting started with J2V8
❖ Registering Java Callbacks with J2V8
❖ Implementing WebWorkers with J2V8
❖ Multithreaded JavaScript with J2V8
❖ Using J2V8 with Heroku
❖ All linked from our GitHub Page

Future Work
❖ Advanced exception handling between Java and JS
❖ Improved debug support
❖ Typed array access in Java
❖ You tell me?

Using J2V8
❖ J2V8 is available in Maven Central
❖ Currently 5 variants are available:
com.eclipsesource.j2v8.j2v8_win32_x86:3.1.6 
com.eclipsesource.j2v8.j2v8_macosx_x86_64:3.1.6 
com.eclipsesource.j2v8.j2v8:3.1.6 (aar) 
com.eclipsesource.j2v8.j2v8_android_armv7l:3.1.6 
com.eclipsesource.j2v8.j2v8_android_x86:3.1.6
❖ j2v8:3.1.6 (aar) contains both x86 and armv7l

Thank-you
❖ Open Source Java bindings for V8
❖ Node4J extensions bring Node.js to Java
❖ Licensed under the EPL
❖ For J2V8 news, follow me on Twitter @irbull
https://github.com/eclipsesource/j2v8

Node4J: Running Node.js in a JavaWorld

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