Presto (browser engine)

Presto was the browser engine of the Opera web browser from the release of Opera 7 on 28 January 2003, until the release of Opera 15 on 2 July 2013, at which time Opera switched to using the Blink engine that was originally created for Chromium.^[3] Presto was also used to power the Opera Mini and Opera Mobile browsers.

Presto

Developer(s)	Opera Software ASA
Stable release	2.12.423 / 16 March 2015; 9 years ago (2015-03-16)[1]
Written in	C++[2]
Operating system	Linux (non-free repositories) and Windows
Type	Application framework, Browser engine
License	Proprietary
Website	dev.opera.com

Presto is a dynamic engine. Web pages can be re-rendered completely or partially in response to DOM events. Its releases saw a number of bug fixes and optimizations to improve the speed of the ECMAScript (JavaScript) engine. It is proprietary and only available as a part of the Opera browsers.

ECMAScript engines

A succession of ECMAScript engines have been used with Opera. (For the origin of their names, see Cultural notes below.) Pre-Presto versions of Opera used the Linear A engine. Opera versions based on the Core fork of Presto, Opera 7.0 through 9.27, used the Linear B engine.^[4] The Futhark engine is used in some versions on the Core 2 fork of Presto, namely Opera 9.5 to Opera 10.10.^[5] When released it was the fastest engine around, but in 2008 a new generation of ECMAScript engines from Google (V8), Mozilla (SpiderMonkey), and Apple (JavaScriptCore) took one more step, introducing native code generation. This opened up for potential heavy computations on the client side and Futhark, though still fast and efficient, was unable to keep up.

In early 2009, Opera introduced the Carakan engine. It featured register-based bytecode, native code generation, automatic object classification, and overall performance improvements.^[6][7] Early access in the Opera 10.50 pre-alpha showed that it is as fast as the fastest competitors, being the winner in 2 out of the 3 most used benchmarks.^[8]

History and development

Presto Version	ECMAScript engine	Browser code name	Opera Browser	Opera Mobile	Other use	New features
pre Presto	none	unnamed	3.5
pre Presto	Linear A	Elektra/unnamed[9][note 1]	4.0
1.0	Linear B	unnamed	7.0			a completely new rendering engine, Favicon support[10]
			8.5			"Bolton" version: 1st completely free download version (ad-free toolbar)
2.0		Merlin	9.0		Internet Channel[11]	Canvas, Acid2 Test: passed, Rich text editing, XSLT, and XPath
2.1	Futhark	Kestrel	9.5	9.5[12]	Nintendo DSi Browser	SVG Tiny 1.2, SVG as CSS, SVG as <img>, Audio object
2.1.1			9.6			Scope API,[13] SVG as Favicon
2.2		Peregrine		9.7[14]
2.2.15			10.0 10.1	9.8[15]		Acid3 test: 100/100, pixel-perfect, Web fonts, CSS Selectors API, RGBA & HSLA opacity, TLS 1.2.,[16] FPS in SVG, SVG fonts in HTML
2.3					Opera Devices SDK 10	CSS3 : border-image, border-radius (rounded corners), box-shadow, transitions; HTML5: <audio> and <video> elements
2.4				10		CSS2.1: visibility:collapse; CSS3 : transforms; HTML5: <canvas> shadows, Web Database, Web Storage, window.btoa, and window.atob
2.5.24	Carakan	Evenes	10.5	10.1	Opera Mini server	CSS3: multiple backgrounds; HTML5: <canvas> Text
2.6.30			10.6			WebM; HTML5: AppCache, Geolocation, Web Workers[17]
2.7.62		Kjevik	11.0	11.0		Extensions, WebSocket
2.8.131		Barracuda	11.1	11.1	Opera Mini server 4.27	WebP, File API, CSS3 gradients (only for the background and background-image properties): -o-linear-gradient(), -o-repeating-linear-gradient(); Support for <color-stop> added.
2.9.168		Swordfish	11.5			Session history management, classList (DOMTokenList)
2.9.201				11.50 for Android		ECMAscript strict mode
2.10.229		Tunny	11.6	11.6		HTML5 Parser, full support to CSS Gradients, Typed Arrays, CSS unit "rem"
2.10.254		Wahoo		12.0		WebGL and hardware acceleration[18]
2.10.289			12.0
2.11.355		Marlin		12.1 for Android		SPDY, CSS3 Flexbox[19]
2.12.388			12.10–12.18

1. Elektra was originally the codename of Opera 4.0, but later came to refer more generally to the layout engine used in versions 3.5 through 6.

Presto-based applications

Web browsers

• Opera
  • Opera 7 to 12
  • Opera Mobile 9.5 to 12
  • Opera Mini (continues to use Presto rendering on an intermediate server on keypad phones and as Extreme mode on Android devices)
• Nintendo
  • Nintendo DS Browser (based on Opera)^[20]
  • Nintendo DSi Browser (based on Opera)^[21]
  • Wii Internet Channel Browser (based on Opera)^[22]
• Nokia 770 Browser (based on Opera)
• Sony Mylo COM-1's Browser (based on Opera)^[23]

HTML editors

• Macromedia Dreamweaver MX to Dreamweaver CS3 (CS4/CS5 use WebKit)
• Adobe Creative Suite 2^[24] and 3^[25]

Source code leak

The source code for version 12.15 was leaked to GitHub on February 11, 2016.^[26] It remained unnoticed until January 12, 2017 and was taken down two days later in response to a DMCA request.^[27][28] Opera Software has confirmed the authenticity of the source code.^[29]

Cultural notes

The ECMAScript engines used with Opera have been named after ancient and traditional writing scripts, including undeciphered Linear A, Ancient Greek Linear B, Runic Futhark, and Javanese Carakan.

See also

• Blink (browser engine)
• V8 (JavaScript engine)

References

1. "Dev.Opera — Opera Mini server upgrade". dev.opera.com. Retrieved 2015-12-28.
2. Lextrait, Vincent (January 2010). "The Programming Languages Beacon, v10.0". Archived from the original on 30 May 2012. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
3. Lawson, Bruce (2013-02-12). "300 million users and move to WebKit". Opera Software. Retrieved 2013-02-13.
4. Sivonen, Henri (2006-11-23). "Names of Browser Engines". Retrieved 2007-01-03.
5. Bointon, Marcus (2006-12-19). "SunSpider Benchmarks: WebKit Rocks". Pet Pixels. Archived from the original on 2011-08-20. Retrieved 2007-01-03.
6. Lindström, Jens (2009-02-05). "Carakan – By Opera Core Concerns". Opera Software. Archived from the original on 2009-02-06. Retrieved 2009-02-05.
7. Lindström, Jens (2009-12-22). "Carakan Revisited – By Opera Core Concerns". Opera Software. Archived from the original on 2009-12-25. Retrieved 2009-12-26.
8. Fulton, Scott M. III (2009-02-22). "The once and future king: Test build of Opera crushes Chrome on Windows 7". betanews. Retrieved 2009-02-26.
9. "Opera publishes version history, rewrites history". Archived from the original on 2014-02-21.
10. "Opera 7 for Windows Changelog". Opera Software. Archived from the original on 6 July 2017. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
11. "Opera Dragonfly documentation". Opera Software. Archived from the original on 2009-02-25. Retrieved 2009-02-27.
12. "Reviewer's Guide to Opera Mobile 9.5 Beta". Opera Software. Archived from the original on 2010-02-20. Retrieved 2009-02-27.
13. Lawson, Bruce (2008-09-10). "Opera Presto 2.1 – Web standards supported by Opera's core". Opera Software. Archived from the original on 2009-02-25. Retrieved 2009-02-27.
14. "Opera announces the new Opera Mobile 9.7 at CTIA Wireless 2009 – a server-accelerated full Web experience for smartphones and mobile devices" (Press release). Opera Software. 2009-03-26. Archived from the original on 2011-10-04. Retrieved 2009-06-11.
15. "Opera Software grows in Poland: International Web browser company celebrates the Warsaw office opening" (Press release). Opera Software. 2009-06-02. Archived from the original on 2010-02-27. Retrieved 2009-06-11.
16. Pettersen, Yngve Nysæter (2009-02-25). "New in Opera Presto 2.2: TLS 1.2 Support". Opera Software. Archived from the original on 2009-03-04. Retrieved 2009-02-27.
17. Kleinhout, Huib (1 July 2010). "Opera 10.60 goes final". My Opera. Opera Software. Archived from the original on 2 July 2010. Retrieved 2 July 2010.
18. "Introducing Opera 12 Alpha". My Opera. Opera Software. 13 October 2011. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 28 January 2012.
19. "Opera Mobile 12.1: with SPDY, WebSockets, Flexbox, and more". My Opera. Opera Software. 9 October 2012. Archived from the original on 10 October 2012. Retrieved 10 October 2012.
20. "Surf in Bed: Nintendo DS Browser hits Japan" (Press release). Opera Software ASA. 2006-07-24. Archived from the original on 2006-08-14. Retrieved 2008-11-02.
21. Rahul Srinivas and Jon S. von Tetzchner (2008-10-08). "Operating Systems are Less Important: Opera". Techtree. Archived from the original on April 15, 2012. Retrieved 2009-02-25.
22. "Play with the Web: Opera browser now available for download on Wii" (Press release). Opera Software ASA. 2006-12-22. Archived from the original on 2008-05-12. Retrieved 2008-11-02.
23. "Sony Electronics uses the Opera browser for its new mylo personal communicator" (Press release). Opera Software ASA. 2006-08-23. Archived from the original on 2008-08-29. Retrieved 2008-11-02.
24. "Powered by Opera: Opera Integrated with Adobe Creative Suite 2" (Press release). Opera Software ASA. 2005-04-04. Retrieved 2008-11-02.^{[permanent dead link]}
25. "Adobe Creative Suite 3 (CS3) uses built-in Opera for rendering engine". 2007-03-28. Archived from the original on 2008-03-03. Retrieved 2008-04-20.
26. "Presto Web rendering engine: Opera 12.15". GitHub. 2017-01-12. Archived from the original on 2017-01-13.
27. "2017-01-12-Presto.md". GitHub. Retrieved 2017-10-12.
28. Cimpanu, Catalin. "Opera Presto Source Code Leaks Online". Bleeping Computer. Retrieved 2017-10-12.
29. "Legacy Opera Presto source code appearance in online sharing sites – Opera Security". Opera Security. 2017-01-18. Retrieved 2017-10-12.

External links

• Opera Developer Community – Presto 2.1 – web standards supported by Opera’s core
• Opera Developer Community