The Mozilla Foundation is reportedly currently developing a new browser engine called Quantum. The new browser engine will take parts from the Servo project to create a new core for the Firefox browser, as David Bryant, head of Mozilla's Platform Engineering, revealed yesterday.
The new engine will replace the ancient Gecko, the engine that has been used for many years by Firefox. Bryant reported that Mozilla hopes to complete the Quantum transfer until the end of 2017.
Early versions of Quantum will be heavily based on elements from Servo, a machine browsing which Mozilla you have been developing for the past few years.
The Servo browser engine is written in Rust, a programming language created by Mozilla also in recent years. Bryant reported that Quantum would use Rust extensively on the basis of his code.
So over the coming year, Mozilla will slowly start adding to Gecko components from the Servo project in each new release, while removing the ancient Gecko code, leaving the Quantum engine in its place.
The reason why change is necessary is that Gecko was developed at a time when computers were running with single-core processors.
Meanwhile, most computers and mobile phones now run on multi-core architectures, and use powerful cards GPUs that enable better performance and better graphics.
Bryant reported that Quantum will develop with these developments in mind, and will bring better performances while surfing the web, and real-time interactions.
It also states that a change in the Rust code will also improve the overall security of the browser. The Mozilla Foundation started using the first ingredients written with Rust by Firefox 48.
