WebKit, the fastest open source web browser engine.
There are a lot of reasons why WebKit is used in so many applications. From Apple’s Safari—the default browser on the Mac and iPhone), Google’s Chrome—their flagship browser on both Windows and Android mobile platform, and Palm Pre’s Web OS operating system, WebKit has proven to be widely accepted amongst the giants of the industry. Even KDE and Nokia’s S60 use WebKit and this is one of the biggest reasons why:
Performance is a top priority for WebKit. We adhere to a simple directive for all work we do on WebKit.
The way to make a program faster is to never let it get slower.
We have a zero-tolerance policy for performance regressions. If a patch lands that regresses performance according to our benchmarks, then the person responsible must either back the patch out of the tree or drop everything immediately and fix the regression.
Common excuses people give when they regress performance are, “But the new way is cleaner!” or “The new way is more correct.” We don’t care. No performance regressions are allowed, regardless of the reason. There is no justification for regressing performance. None.
Think about that quote when designing anything. Performance is the most important thing you can get out of your application, so make it a priority. If your code looks cleaner or better but is slower, you’re just fooling yourself. Never accept a decrease in performance and you’ll be as successful as WebKit.
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