Stephen, Thanks a lot for the reply - I'll definitely start digging into all those links and v8-juice.
I'm a little uneasy about hearing that you've used it for 2 years and it is still fuzzy on v8. Has anyone discussed starting a documentation effort for this? Not a systematic one, but rather a place where people can dump their comments and such. Just a simple comment system linked to the existing docs (like php.net) would probably be wildly useful. I'm surprised there isn't more info in the v8 wiki, but then, the google code wiki system isn't very inviting and wiki like. What about IRC? Any channels that you or others hang out at where we can ask questions and share knowledge? Regards, Brian On Nov 4, 6:01 pm, Stephan Beal <[email protected]> wrote: > On Thu, Nov 4, 2010 at 1:42 PM, Brian Meidell < > > [email protected]> wrote: > > I'm an experienced c++ programmer (and js programmer), and normally I > > have no problem with diving into sparsely documented stuff, but there > > seems to be so much magic going on behind the scenes in v8 that I have > > a very hard time relying on anything but documentation and examples. > > And I'm having trouble finding much of that. > > Trying to inspect v8 stuff in the debugger doesn't work very well > > either, most of the time. > > You and i are in the same boat. i've been working with v8 now long enough to > be halfway comfortable with it, but the same problem - nobody WTFM > (Write/Wrote The Fine Manual). Last i checked, the v8 API docs were nearly > useless, full of one-liner descriptions which mean nothing unless one > understands the whole (as you mention - how it all fits together). > > > So, how did you people get a handle on v8? > > Do you know of good examples of v8 usage with lots of source > > available? > > Someone mentioned node.js already, but i'll also shamelessly plug v8-juice, > which is a higher-level wrapper for v8 which primarily assists in binding > custom C/C++ functions and classes to v8, and converting arbitrary types > between JS/C++. > > http://code.google.com/p/v8-juice > > It's pedantically well-documented, but it doesn't document how v8 itself > works. (In fact, throughout the sources there are comments like "v8 _seems_ > to behave like [this or that]...") > > > - Creating constructor functions in the global space that can be used > > from JS, for example (js): var sprite = new ZSprite(); > > v8-juice has lots of examples of that. If you enjoy digging into code, you > might want to try: > > http://code.google.com/p/v8-juice/wiki/ClassWraphttp://code.google.com/p/v8-juice/wiki/ClassBinder > > those pages present two different class-wrapping mechanisms for v8, and code > links from there lead to the concrete implementations. > > - Creating a member function on a constructor function (kinda like a > > > static method in c++), so I can call it like this (js): var sprite = > > ZSprite.create( "foo.png" ) > > If you _really_ like getting messy with other people's code: > > http://code.google.com/p/v8-juice/wiki/PluginWhefs > > the code links from there show some examples of this. That said, that > particular code is down-and-dirty - code only a mother (or father, in this > case) could love. > > > I've looked a bit at > >http://create.tpsitulsa.com/blog/2009/01/29/v8-objects/, > > and some of the info I am seeking seems to be there, but I still can't > > get my stuff to work. > > My first few hundred hours with v8 were basically trial and error. The only > reason i stuck with it is because i find embeddable scripting so fascinating > and because i'm such a big fan of Google technologies. (No, i don't work for > google!) > > > And generally, I'm just randomly trying stuff too much - I'd like to > > be programming deliberately, not by accident. > > i'm not sure if that's really possible in v8 (except for the insiders who > understand The Whole). i've been at it almost 2 years now, and i still > question "how does (so and so) behave?" very often. > > > Any pointers to how to go about grokking v8, the way to use it and how > > the "correct" way to map the c++ and js spaces to each other would be > > hugely appreciated. > > Several list members have written wrappers which hide these details from > people who don't want to know them, but also internally implement these > details for people who are interested in seeing how they work. > > See:http://code.google.com/p/v8-juice/wiki/HomePage > find the "Related work" section, and there are several links to such > projects there. > > i hope this helps - i sympathize 100% with your position. If you have > questions regarding how/why v8-juice works, or how i accomplished some > specific feat in v8, feel free to contact me off-list. > > -- > ----- stephan bealhttp://wanderinghorse.net/home/stephan/ -- v8-users mailing list [email protected] http://groups.google.com/group/v8-users
