Google hits TurboFan button on Chrome's JavaScript engine Google says its new optimizing compiler tech is gradually speeding up JavaScript execution in its Chrome browser – and it one day hopes it can rip out all the old compiler code and replace it with something better. The new optimizing compiler is known as TurboFan, and it has been shipping as a component of the V8 JavaScript …
Not only was the old Turbo button a swindle, but it was inspired by the Turbo button on the Viper joysticks in the original 'Battlestar Galactica' TV show. That button, in turn, was obviously inspired by the internal-combustion concept of turbo/supercharging... but it made ABSOLUTELY no sense in the context of space fighters, whose engines presumably didn't rely on carburetion. I was a little kid at the time, and I dearly loved that show... but every time I saw Starbuck or Apollo punch the Turbo button, I cringed.
I always wondered what that button did (back then PCs were a complete mystery to me as I was doing all my computing on an Amiga).
A quick search confirms that it actually slowed the machine down.
I had no idea. Everyday's a school day, etc.
Faster JacaScript just means faster ads pumped into our faces. Browsing a 1990s-era website is instant; but browsing any modern site is an exercise in frustration, waiting for a shed-load of external dependencies to kick in. On mobile devices it's even worse: you start reading the content, then the paragraph jumps out of view as a dynamically-loaded ad fills the space you were reading.
So thanks, Google, for making the browsing experience slightly faster with Chrome; but no thanks for making it such a horrible experience with all your ads.
"PS: We know the old PC turbo button was a swindle: it either ran the processor at normal speed, or slower for games and similar software that relied on a particular CPU clock speed"
You sure about that? I used PCs back then where the turbo button clearly did ramp up the FSB speed to enhance games and such.
Turning turbo off set the FSB back to whatever was the standard then for ISA expansion cards, which were unstable if not running at their notional clock speeds
>>You sure about that? I used PCs back then where the turbo button clearly did ramp up the FSB speed to enhance games and such.
Hmm. Maybe turbo buttons evolved into this. I recall that the original PC turbo buttons would change the CPU clock speed (and thus FSB speed) back down to 4.77MHz so games that were hard-coded with delay loops for original IBM PC speeds would run at the intended speed.
I recall that the original PC turbo buttons would change the CPU clock speed (and thus FSB speed) back down to 4.77MHz so games that were hard-coded with delay loops for original IBM PC speeds would run at the intended speed.
Wikipedia remembers it the same way you do:
The name itself is an intentional misnomer, as the button doesn't boost the speed; engaging it slows the system down to a state compatible with original 8088 chips.
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