This is the README file for the JavaScript Reference (JSRef, now better known as SpiderMonkey) implementation. It consists of build conventions and instructions, source code conventions, a design walk-through, and a brief file-by-file description of the source.
JSRef builds a library or DLL containing the JavaScript runtime (compiler, interpreter, decompiler, garbage collector, atom manager, standard classes). It then compiles a small "shell" program and links that with the library to make an interpreter that can be used interactively and with test .js files to run scripts. The code has no dependencies on the rest of the Mozilla codebase.
Quick start tip: skip to "Using the JS API" below, build the js shell, and play with the object named "it" (start by setting ′it.noisy = true′).
