Thread: A sophisticated core

Google Chrome combines a sophisticated core with a minimalist user interface. We shall now take a look at some of its core architectural features:

Webkit rendering engine:

Chrome uses the open source browser engine Web kit [webkit.org], which has proven to be sufficiently fast on desktops and mobile phones alike. This was the main reason why Chrome chose the engine. Using Webkit also saves Web developers from worrying about yet another rendering engine for their content to look uniform. Webkit is already used by Apple Safari

Multi-process architecture:

With its multi-process architecture, Chrome ensures separate operating system processes for different Web applications. Each Web application has its own space. During start-up there is a browser process that forks a new renderer process every time a new tab is opened; or a new plug-in process every time a plug-in, either Java or Flash, is opened.



shows the process tree when I had four tabs-each running a different Web application, with one of them even running the Flash plug-in playing a movie.
The visual in explains the multi-process hierarchy. At the top level there is the parent process, which is called the browser process and then we have the child processes composed of renderer and plug-in processes. Please refer to the blog post titled "Multi¬process Architecture" at blog. chromium. org/2008/09/ multi-process-architecture.html for a detailed discussion on the topic. All the currently running processes can be viewed using the task manager, as described earlier.

Sandboxed security architecture:

Chrome uses a modified version of the BIBA security model [en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biba_Model). In Chrome, the browser process and the renderer process have different access privileges. Rendering engines live in a sandbox and are under the supervision of the browser process. A detailed report on the security architecture of Chrome is at crypto. slanford.edu/websec/chromium.

V8-JavaScript Virtual Machine:

JavaScript is the major driving force of the e olving Web. Realising this the Chrome team wrote a new JavaScript engine called V8 [code.google.com/apislv8] to give superior Ja aScript performance. 8 is a major architectural characteristic that contributes to its speed. 8 is an open source project, which can be used b de elopers to write better¬performing JavaScript -based eb applications.

DNS pre-fetching or pre-resolving:

To speed up browsing, Chrome resolves domain names before the user navigates, typicall while the user is viewing a Web page. As the user scrolls through the page containing multiple unvisited domain naines, Google uses the computer s D S resolution mechanism to resol e them and store them in its cache' so that when the user clicks on them, the transfer to that page is usually fast, as the D S resolution has alread been done.

For more details on the architectural features visit Wlth Chrome Google asks users to download a new Web Browser. There is a new interface and new technological advances in Chrome. t this point of time, the browser has features that are ideal for taking it out on a testdrive.

Issues

Google Chrome is a beta product, so please do not expect an all-smooth performance. Some known issues are listed at /supportlchrome/biTllrequest. py?conlacCtype=known_issues_2.