Porffor Tutorial - Multi-Runtime JavaScript Benchmarking

A comprehensive tutorial and benchmarking suite for JavaScript runtimes including Porffor, Deno, Bun, and Node.js, with WebAssembly support through Guile Scheme integration.

Features

• Multi-Runtime Support: Run JavaScript code across Porffor, Deno, Bun, and Node.js
• WebAssembly Integration: Compile Guile Scheme to WASM for cross-platform execution
• Performance Benchmarking: Compare runtime performance with Fibonacci, string, and array operations
• Universal JavaScript: Single codebase that adapts to different runtime environments
• Porffor Integration: Includes Porffor as a git submodule for AOT JavaScript compilation to WebAssembly

Project Structure

.
├── hello.js              # Universal JavaScript with runtime detection
├── hello.scm             # Guile Scheme source for WASM compilation
├── bench.js              # Performance benchmark suite
├── run-benchmarks.sh     # Automated benchmark runner
├── compile-guile.sh      # Guile to WASM compilation script
├── package.json          # NPM configuration with scripts
└── porffor/              # Porffor compiler submodule

Installation

1. Clone the repository with submodules:

git clone --recursive https://github.com/jasonwalsh-fcpeuro/porffor-tutorial
cd porffor-tutorial

2. Install Porffor dependencies:

cd porffor && npm install && cd ..

3. Install optional runtimes:

# Install Bun
curl -fsSL https://bun.sh/install | bash

# Install Deno
curl -fsSL https://deno.land/install.sh | sh

# Install Guile Hoot for WASM compilation (optional)
# See: https://gitlab.com/spritely/guile-hoot

Usage

Run Hello World

# With Node.js
node hello.js

# With Deno
deno run --allow-read hello.js

# With Bun
bun run hello.js

# With Porffor
node porffor/runtime/index.js hello.js

Run Benchmarks

./run-benchmarks.sh

This will automatically detect available runtimes and run performance benchmarks on each.

Compile Guile to WASM

./compile-guile.sh

Benchmark Results

The benchmark suite tests three key areas:

• Fibonacci(35): Recursive computation performance
• String Operations(10000): String manipulation and memory handling
• Array Operations(100000): Array filtering, mapping, and reduction

Example results on Apple Silicon:

Node.js (baseline):
- Fibonacci(35): ~60ms
- String ops(10000): ~15ms
- Array ops(100000): ~2ms

About Porffor

Porffor is an experimental Ahead-of-Time (AOT) JavaScript engine that compiles JavaScript to WebAssembly. It aims to provide faster startup times and smaller binary sizes compared to traditional JIT engines.

Technologies Used

• Porffor: AOT JavaScript to WebAssembly compiler
• WebAssembly: Portable compilation target for web and native
• Guile Scheme: Functional programming language with WASM support
• Multiple JS Runtimes: Deno, Bun, Node.js compatibility
• Performance Benchmarking: Comparative runtime analysis

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Feel free to:

• Add new benchmarks
• Improve runtime detection
• Add support for more JavaScript engines
• Enhance WASM integration

License

MIT

Resources

• Porffor GitHub
• WebAssembly MDN
• Guile Hoot
• Deno
• Bun