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GraalVM JavaScript language compatibility

GraalVM JavaScript is a JavaScript (ECMAScript) language execution runtime. This document explains the public API it provides to user applications written in JavaScript.

ECMAScript language compliance

GraalVM JavaScript implements JavaScript as prescribed in the ECMAScript (ECMA-262) specification. GraalVM JavaScript is compatible with the ECMAScript 2019 specification (sometimes referred to as "version 10" or "ES10"). Some features of the upcoming ECMAScript 2020 are already implemented and are available behind specific flags. Older versions starting from ECMAScript 5 can be enabled with a config flag. It is recommended to use a fixed ECMAScript version, with the most recent published ECMAScript 2019 specification being a reasonable target. For informations on the flags, see the --help message of the executable.

GraalVM JavaScript provides the following function objects in the global scope as specified by ECMAScript, representing the JavaScript core library: Array, ArrayBuffer, Boolean, DataView, Date, Error, Function, JSON, Map, Math, Number, Object, Promise, Proxy, Reflect, RegExp, Set, SharedArrayBuffer, String, Symbol, TypedArray, WeakMap, WeakSet

Some additional objects are available under flags (run js --help for the list of available flags): Atomics, Intl, SIMD

Several of these function objects and some of their members are only available when a certain version of the spec is selected for execution. For a list of methods provided, inspect the ECMAScript specification. Extensions to the specification are specified below.

Internationalization API (ECMA-402)

Internationalization API implementation (see https://tc39.github.io/ecma402) can be activated using the following flag: --js.intl-402=true. If you run in native mode (default option), you also need to specify path to your ICU data directory using the following option: --vm.Dcom.ibm.icu.impl.ICUBinary.dataPath=$GRAAL_VM_DIR/jre/languages/js/icu4j/icudt, where $GRAAL_VM_DIR refers to your GraalVM installation directory. If you run in JVM mode (a jvm flag is used), you do not need to specify where your ICU data are located, although you can do it with the mentioned option.

Once you activate the Internationalization API, you can use the following built-ins:

  • Intl.NumberFormat
  • Intl.DateTimeFormat
  • Intl.Collator
  • Intl.PluralRules

Functionality of a few other built-ins is then also updated according to the specification linked above.

Regular Expressions

GraalVM JavaScript strives to support all regular expression features of ECMAScript. It employs two regular expression engines:

  • TRegex, an advanced engine producing tree-based automata with high peak performance.
  • Joni, an adopted port of Nashorn's regular expression engine (a bytecode compiler).

While both engines support most regular expressions, they lack support for some of the advaced features of the newest ECMAScript specifications. TRegex is the default engine, and Joni will be used in case a feature is not supported in TRegex. In the rare case several features are mixed in one regular expression so no single engine can execute the expression, GraalVM JavaScript has to throw a JavaScript Error. We are working on improving both engines to limit the number of unsupported regular expressions.

The current status of feature support in both engines is listed below (features not listed are supported by both engines):

Feature TRegex Joni
Backreferences ❌ ✓
Negative lookaround1 ❌ ✓
Unicode mode ('u' flag) ✓ ❌
Unicode property escapes ✓ ❌
Full lookbehind2 ❌ ❌
1: Positive lookaround is supported in both engines.
2: TRegex and Joni only support a subset of the lookbehind assertions that can match at most a bounded number of characters.

We are currently working on implementing negative lookahead and more support for lookbehind in TRegex. On the other hand, full support of backreferences is out of scope for a finite state automaton engine like TRegex. GraalVM JavaScript uses Nashorn's port of the Joni engine, which is based on ECMAScript 5 and misses support for most features of ECMAScript 6 and beyond. For more details on the implementation of the engines, see RegExpImplementation.md.

Compatibility extensions

The following objects and methods are available in GraalVM JavaScript for compatibility with other JavaScript execution engines. Note that the behaviour of such methods might not strictly match the semantics of those methods in all existing engines.

Language features

Conditional catch clauses

GraalVM JavaScript supports conditional catch clauses if the js.syntax-extensions option is enabled:

try {
    myMethod(); // can throw
} catch (e if e instanceof TypeError) {
    print("TypeError caught");
} catch (e) {
    print("another Error caught");
}

Global properties

load(source)

Loads (parses and executes) the specified JavaScript source code.

Source can be of type:

  • a String: the path of the source file or a URL to execute.
  • java.lang.URL: the URL is queried for the source code to execute if the js.load-from-url option is set to true.
  • java.io.File: the File is read for the source code to execute.
  • a JavaScript object: the object is queried for a name and a script property, which represent the source name and code, respectively.
  • all other types: the source is converted to a String.

load is available by default and can be deactivated by setting the js.load option to false.

print(...arg) and printErr(...arg)

Prints the arguments on the console (stdout and stderr, respectively). Provides a best-effort human readable output.

print and printErr are available by default and can be deactivated by setting the js.print option to false.

Methods of the console global object

A global console object is provided that offers several methods for debugging purposes. These methods strive to provide similar functionality as provided in other engines, but do not guarantee identical results.

Note that those methods behave differently when GraalVM JavaScript is executed in Node.js mode (i.e., the node executable is started instead of js). Node.js provides its own implementation that is used instead.

  • console.log, console.info, and console.debug: an alias for print(...arg)
  • console.error, and console.warn: similar to print, but using the error IO stream
  • console.assert(check, message): prints message when check is falsy
  • console.clear: clears the console window if possible
  • console.count(), and console.countReset(): counts and print how many times it has been called, or resets this counter
  • console.group, and console.groupEnd: increases or decreases the indentation for succeeding outputs to the console
  • console.time(), console.timeLog(), and console.timeEnd(): starts a timer, prints the duration the timer has been active, or prints the duration and stops the timer, respectively

The console object is available by default and can be deactivated by setting the option js.console to false.

Additional global functions in the js shell

quit(status)

Exits the engine and returns the specified status code.

read(file)

This function reads the content of file. The result is returned as String.

The argument file can be of type:

  • java.io.File: the file is used directly.
  • all other types: file is converted to a String and interpreted as file name.

readbuffer(file)

This function reads the content of file similar to the read function. The result is returned as a JavaScript ArrayBuffer object.

readline()

This function reads one line of input from the input stream. It returns a String as result.

Object

Object.prototype.__defineGetter__(prop, func)

Defines the prop property of this to be the getter function func. This functionality is deprecated in most JavaScript engines. In recent ECMAScript versions, getters and setters are natively supported by the language.

Object.prototype.__defineSetter__(prop, func)

Defines the prop property of this to be the setter function func. This functionality is deprecated in most JavaScript engines. In recent ECMAScript versions, getters and setters are natively supported by the language.

Object.prototype.__lookupGetter__(prop)

Returns the getter function for property prop of the object as set by __defineGetter__. This functionality is deprecated in most JavaScript engines. In recent ECMAScript versions, getters and setters are natively supported by the language.

Object.prototype.__lookupSetter__(prop)

Returns the setter function for property prop of the object as set by __defineSetter__. This functionality is deprecated in most JavaScript engines. In recent ECMAScript versions, getters and setters are natively supported by the language.

Nashorn scripting mode

GraalVM JavaScript provides a scripting mode compatible to the one provided by the Nashorn engine. It is enabled with the js.scripting option, make also sure to have --experimental-options set:

$ js --experimental-options --js.scripting=true

In scripting mode, several properties and functions are added to the global object, including readFully, readLine, $ARG, $ENV, and $EXEC.

GraalVM JavaScript extensions

Graal

The Graal object is provided as property of the global object. It provides Graal-specific information. The existence of the property can be used to identify whether the GraalVM JavaScript engine is the current language engine.

if (typeof Graal != 'undefined') {
    print(Graal.versionJS);
    print(Graal.versionGraalVM);
    print(Graal.isGraalRuntime);
}

The Graal object is available in GraalVM JavaScript by default, unless deactivated by an option (js.graal-builtin=false).

Graal.versionJS

Provides the version number of GraalVM JavaScript.

Graal.versionGraalVM

Provides the version of the GraalVM, if the current engine is executed on a GraalVM.

Graal.isGraalRuntime

Provides whether GraalVM JavaScript is executed on a Graal-enabled runtime. If true, hot code is compiled by the GraalVM Compiler, resulting in high peak performance. If false, GraalVM JavaScript will not be optimized by the GraalVM Compiler, typically resulting in lower performance.

Java

The Java object is only available when the engine is started in JVM mode (--jvm flag).

Note that some functions require a Nashorn compatibility mode flag to be set. On the GraalVM, this flag can be set with:

$ js --jvm --experimental-options --js.nashorn-compat=true

Java.type(className)

The type function loads the specified Java class and provides it as an object. Fields of this object can be read directly from it, and new instances can be created with the JavaScript new keyword.

var BigDec = Java.type('java.math.BigDecimal');
var bd = new BigDec("0.1");
console.log(bd.add(bd).toString());

Java.from(javaData)

The from function creates a shallow copy of the Java datastructure (Array, List) as a JavaScript array. In many cases, this is not necessary, you can typically use the Java datastructure directly from JavaScript.

Java.to(jsData, toType)

The to function converts the argument to a Java dataype. The source object jsData is expected to be a JavaScript array, or object with a length property. The target toType can either be a String (e.g. "int[]") or a type object (e.g., Java.type("int[]")). Valid target types are Java arrays. When no target type is provided, Object[] is assumed.

var jsArr = ["a", "b", "c"];
var strArrType = Java.type("java.lang.String[]");
var javaArr = Java.to(jsArr, strArrType);
assertEquals('class [Ljava.lang.String;', String(javaArr.getClass()));

The conversion methods as defined by ECMAScript (e.g., ToString, ToDouble) are executed when a JavaScript value has to be converted to a Java type. Lossy conversion is disallowed and results in a TypeError.

Java.isJavaObject(obj)

The isJavaObject method returns whether obj is an object of the Java language. It returns false for native JavaScript objects, as well as for objects of other polyglot languages.

Java.isType(obj)

The isType method returns whether obj is an object of the Java language, representing a Java Class instance. It returns false for all other arguments.

Java.typeName(obj)

The typeName method returns the Java Class name of obj. obj is expected to represent a Java Class instance, i.e., isType(obj) should return true; otherwise, undefined is returned.

Java.isJavaFunction(fn)

The isJavaFunction method returns whether fn is an object of the Java language that represents a Java function. It returns false for all other typies, including native JavaScript function, and functions of other polyglot languages.

This function requires the Nashorn compatibility mode flag.

Java.isScriptObject(obj)

The isScriptObject method returns whether obj is an object of the JavaScript language. It returns false for all other types, including objects of Java and other polyglot languages.

This function requires the Nashorn compatibility mode flag.

Java.isScriptFunction(fn)

The isScriptFunction method returns whether fn is a JavaScript function. It returns false for all other types, including Java function, and functions of other polyglot languages.

This function requires the Nashorn compatibility mode flag.

Java.addToClasspath(location)

The addToClasspath method adds the specified location (file name or path name, as String) to Java's classpath.

Polyglot

The functions of the Polyglot object allow to interact with values from other polyglot languages.

The Polyglot object is available by default, unless deactivated by setting the js.polyglot-builtin option to false.

Polyglot.export(key, value)

Exports the JavaScript value under the name key (a string) to the polyglot bindings.

function helloWorld() { print("Hello, JavaScript world"); }
Polyglot.export("helloJSWorld", helloWorld);

If the polyglot bindings already had a value identified by key, it is overwritten with the new value. Throws a TypeError if key is not a string or missing. The value may be any valid Polyglot value.

Polyglot.import(key)

Imports the value identified by key (a string) from the polyglot bindings and returns it.

var rubyHelloWorld = Polyglot.import("helloRubyWorld");
rubyHelloWorld();

If no language has exported a value identified by key, null is returned. Throws a TypeError if key is not a string or missing.

Polyglot.eval(languageId, sourceCode)

Parses and evaluates the sourceCode with the interpreter identified by languageId. The value of sourceCode is expected to be a String (or convertable to one). Returns the evaluation result, depending on the sourceCode and/or the semantics of the language evaluated.

var rArray = Polyglot.eval('R', 'runif(1000)');

Exceptions can occur when an invalid languageId is passed, when the sourceCode cannot be evaluated by the language, or when the executed program throws one.

Polyglot.evalFile(languageId, sourceFileName)

Parses the file sourceFileName with the interpreter identified by languageId. The value of sourceFileName is expected to be a String (or convertable to one), representing a file reachable by the current path. Returns an executable object, typically a function.

var rFunc = Polyglot.evalFile('R', 'myExample.r');
var result = rFunc();

Exceptions can occur when an invalid languageId is passed, when the file identified by sourceFileName cannot be found, or when the language throws an exception during parsing (parse time errors, e.g. syntax errors). Exceptions thrown by the evaluated program are only thrown once the resulting function is evaluated.

The Polyglot.evalFile function is available by default when the Polyglot builtin is available, unless deactivated by setting the js.polyglot-evalfile option to false. It is also available when js.debug-builtin is activated.

Debug

requires starting the engine with the js.debug-builtin flag.

Debug is a GraalVM JavaScript specific function object that provides functionality for debugging JavaScript code and the GraalVM JavaScript compiler. This API might change without notice, do not use for production purposes!

Global functions

printErr(...arg)

The method printErr behaves identical to print. The only difference is, that the error stream is used to print to, instead of the default output stream.

loadWithNewGlobal(source, arguments)

This method behaves similar to load function. Relevant difference is that the code is evaluated in a new global scope (Realm, as defined by ECMAScript).

Source can be of type:

  • java.lang.URL: the URL is queried for the source code to execute.
  • a JavaScript object: the object is queried for a name and a script property.
  • all other types: the source is converted to a String.

The value of arguments is provided to the loaded code upon execution.