Elk: a tiny JS engine for embedded systems

Elk is a tiny embeddable JavaScript engine that implements a small but usable subset of ES6. It is designed for microcontroller development. Instead of writing firmware code entirely in C/C++, Elk allows to add JavaScript customisations to the firmware developed in C - which is a great way to let customers to extend/customise device functionality.

Elk features include:

• Cross platform. Works anywhere from 8-bit microcontrollers to 64-bit servers
• Zero dependencies. Builds cleanly by ISO C or ISO C++ compilers
• Easy to embed: just copy elk.c and elk.h to your source tree
• Small and simple embedding API
• Does not use malloc. Operates with a given memory buffer only
• Small footprint: about 20KB on flash/disk, about 100 bytes RAM for core VM
• No bytecode. Interprets JS code directly

Elk approach is different from other scripting environments like micropython, which provide a complete JS API for everything. Elk is completely bare, it does not even have a standard library. All required functionality is supposed to be imported from C/C++ firmware, and JS code simply orchestrates things. That leaves Elk very minimal and tunable.

Below is a blinky demonstration on a classic Arduino Nano board which has 2K RAM and 30K flash (see full sketch):

The Esp32JS Arduino sketch is an example of Elk integration with ESP32. Flash this sketch on your ESP32 board, go to http://elk-js.com, and get a JavaScript development environment instantly! All components, including ESP32 firmware and Web editor, are open. Here how it looks like:

The example JS firmware implements a classic blinky that uses timers imported from C.

#include <stdio.h>
#include "elk.h"

int main(void) {
  char mem[200];
  struct js *js = js_create(mem, sizeof(mem));  // Create JS instance
  jsval_t v = js_eval(js, "1 + 2 * 3", ~0);     // Execute JS code
  printf("result: %s\n", js_str(js, v));        // result: 7
  return 0;
}

This demonstrates how JS code can import and call existing C functions:

#include <stdio.h>
#include "elk.h"

// C function that adds two numbers. Will be called from JS
jsval_t sum(struct js *js, jsval_t *args, int nargs) {
  if (nargs != 2) return js_err(js, "2 args expected");
  double a = js_getnum(args[0]);  // Fetch 1st arg
  double b = js_getnum(args[1]);  // Fetch 2nd arg
  return js_mknum(a + b);
}

int main(void) {
  char mem[200];
  struct js *js = js_create(mem, sizeof(mem));      // Create JS instance
  js_set(js, js_glob(js), "sum", js_mkfun(sum)));   // Import sum()
  jsval_t result = js_eval(js, "sum(3, 4);", ~0);   // Call sum
  printf("result: %s\n", js_str(js, result));       // result: 7
  return 0;
}

• Operations: all standard JS operations except:
  • !=, ==. Use strict comparison !==, ===
  • No computed member access a[b]
  • No exponentiation operation a ** b
• Typeof: typeof('a') === 'string'
• For loop: for (...;...;...) ...
• Conditional: if (...) ... else ...
• Ternary operator a ? b : c
• Simple types: let a, b, c = 12.3, d = 'a', e = null, f = true, g = false;
• Functions: let f = function(x, y) { return x + y; };
• Objects: let obj = {f: function(x) { return x * 2}}; obj.f(3);
• Every statement must end with a semicolon ;
• Strings are binary data chunks, not Unicode strings: 'Київ'.length === 8

• No var, no const. Use let (strict mode only)
• No do, switch, while. Use for
• No => functions. Use let f = function(...) {...};
• No arrays, closures, prototypes, this, new, delete
• No standard library: no Date, Regexp, Function, String, Number

Since Elk parses and interprets JS code on the fly, it is not meant to be used in a performance-critical scenarios. For example, below are the numbers for a simple loop code on a different architectures.

for (let i = 0; i < 100; i++) true;
// 97 milliseconds on a 16Mhz 8-bit Atmega328P (Arduino Uno and alike)
// 16 milliseconds on a 48Mhz SAMD21
//  5 milliseconds on a 133Mhz Raspberry RP2040
//  2 milliseconds on a 240Mhz ESP32

Available preprocessor definitions:

Note: on ESP32 or ESP8266, compiled functions go into the .text ELF section and subsequently into the IRAM MCU memory. It is possible to save IRAM space by copying Elk code into the irom section before linking. First, compile the object file, then rename .text section, e.g. for ESP32:

$ xtensa-esp32-elf-gcc $CFLAGS elk.c -c elk.tmp
$ xtensa-esp32-elf-objcopy --rename-section .text=.irom0.text elk.tmp elk.o

Note: Elk uses snprintf() standard function to format numbers (double). On some architectures, for example AVR Arduino, that standard function does not support float formatting - therefore printing numbers may output nothing or ? symbols.

struct js *js_create(void *buf, size_t len);

Initialize JS engine in a given memory block. Elk will only use that memory block to hold its runtime, and never use any extra memory. Return: a non-NULL opaque pointer on success, or NULL when len is too small. The minimum len is about 100 bytes.

The given memory buffer is laid out in the following way:

  | <-------------------------------- len ------------------------------> |
  | struct js, ~100 bytes  |   runtime vars    |    free memory           | 

jsval_t js_eval(struct js *, const char *buf, size_t len);

Evaluate JS code in buf, len and return result of the evaluation. During the evaluation, Elk stores variables in the "runtime" memory section. When js_eval() returns, Elk does not keep any reference to the evaluated code: all strings, functions, etc, are copied to the runtime.

Important note: the returned result is valid only before the next call to js_eval(). The reason is that js_eval() triggers a garbage collection. A garbage collection is mark-and-sweep, run before every top-level statement gets executed.

The runtime footprint is as follows:

• An empty object is 8 bytes
• Each object property is 16 bytes
• A string is 4 bytes + string length, aligned to 4 byte boundary
• A C stack usage is ~200 bytes per nested expression evaluation

const char *js_str(struct js *, jsval_t val);

Stringify JS value val and return a pointer to a 0-terminated result. The string is allocated in the "free" memory section. If there is no enough space there, an empty string is returned. The returned pointer is valid until the next js_eval() call.

jsval_t js_glob(struct js *);

Return global JS object, i.e. a root namespace.

jsval_t js_mkundef(void);  // Create undefined
jsval_t js_mknull(void);   // Create null, null, true, false
jsval_t js_mktrue(void);   // Create true
jsval_t js_mkfalse(void);  // Create false
jsval_t js_mkstr(struct js *, const void *, size_t);           // Create string
jsval_t js_mknum(double);                                      // Create number
jsval_t js_mkerr(struct js *js, const char *fmt, ...);         // Create error
jsval_t js_mkfun(jsval_t (*fn)(struct js *, jsval_t *, int));  // Create func
jsval_t js_mkobj(struct js *);                                 // Create object
void js_set(struct js *, jsval_t, const char *, jsval_t);      // Set obj attr

Create JS values from C values

enum { JS_UNDEF, JS_NULL, JS_TRUE, JS_FALSE, JS_STR, JS_NUM, JS_ERR, JS_PRIV };
int js_type(jsval_t val);       // Return JS value type
double js_getnum(jsval_t val);  // Get number
int js_getbool(jsval_t val);    // Get boolean, 0 or 1
char *js_getstr(struct js *js, jsval_t val, size_t *len);  // Get string

Extract C values from JS values

bool js_chkargs(jsval_t *args, int nargs, const char *spec);

A helper function that checks a validity of the arguments passed to a function. A spec is a 0-terminated string where each character represents a type of the expected argument: b for bool, d for number, s for string, j for any other JS value.

Usage example - a C function that implements a JS function greater_than(number1, number2):

static jsval_t js_gt(struct js *js, jsval_t *args, int nargs) {
  if (!js_chkargs(args, nargs, "dd")) return js_mkerr(js, "bad args!");
  return js_getnum(args[0]) > js_getnum(args[1]) ? js_mktrue() : js_mkfalse();
}

void js_setmaxcss(struct js *, size_t max);

Set maximum allowed C stack size usage

void js_stats(struct js *, size_t *total, size_t *min, size_t *cstacksize);

Return resource usage statistics: total for total usable JS memory, min for the lowest free JS memory observed (low watermark), and cstacksize for the largest C stack usage observed.

void js_dump(struct js *);

Print debug info about the current JS state to stdout. Requires -DJS_DUMP

Dual license: AGPLv3 or commercial. For commercial licensing, technical support and integration help, please contact us at https://cesanta.com/contact.html