Mozilla revamps RegExp support in SpiderMonkey JavaScript engine

Mozilla has outfitted its SpiderMonkey JavaScript runtime with a new regular expressions (RegExps) engine, to make it easier to support modern RegExps features. The new RegExp engine debuts in the Firefox 78 Developer Edition browser. 

RegExps are a heavily used tool for manipulating strings, offering a rich syntax to describe and capture character information. Mozilla in 2014 had replaced its YARR regular expression engine with a forked copy of Irregexp, the regular expression engine used in the Google V8 JavaScript engine. Mozilla heavily rewrote Irregexp to use its own APIs. This made it easier to work with the new engine, but harder to import new upstream features. And over time, Mozilla fell behind in supporting new ES2018 RegExp features.

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from InfoWorld https://ift.tt/3h148MS