How do I get a Javascript runtime interpreter installed on OS X?

Question

With OS X Xcode installed one can run ruby code in terminal with ">ruby somefile.rb" command (or from inside TextWrangler with the run command). You can also run a ruby interpreter from in terminal and type code in single lines while the interpreter retains variable objects.

Want same possibilities for Javascript. What must I install (if anything) on OS X to have that functionality? Not looking for an IDE as such just an interpreter that will run in Terminal.app?

I assume this is an allowed question for Stackoverflow based on other allowed questions about IDEs for various languages like: What's a good IDE for Python on Mac OS X?

Answer 1

There is a Javascript interpreter in the JavaScriptCore framework that comes with OS X. The interpreter is called jsc and can be found at the following path:

 /System/Library/Frameworks/JavaScriptCore.framework/Versions/Current/Helpers/jsc

There is a built-in function, quit(), which will exit interactive mode.

If you want to make it easier to use I suggest creating a symlink to a location in your path, e.g.:

sudo ln -s /System/Library/Frameworks/JavaScriptCore.framework/Versions/Current/Helpers/jsc /usr/local/bin

This will put a symbolic link in /usr/local/bin.

Answer 2

Node.js. It's the V8 engine + libraries + REPL.

Although Node is usually used for web/network-related applications, at its core it's just a plain JS engine and can even be used for shell scripting.

You can install it from the installer, brew or just ./configure && make from a Node.js' tarball.

There's also Rhino.

Answer 3

v8. Its the javascript engine used in google chrome. You have to compile it for mac OS X, though. Theres a good tutorial here.