I
magine an Internet experience in which online
data visualization and interaction are fully dynamic
and smooth even when displaying largescale
networks. Several rich Internet application
(RIA) frameworks are working in this direction.
Most browsers have integrated HTML5 and the
new canvas elements, pending final specification,
and Adobe recently released Flash Player 10.1
with GPU-accelerated video playback. The major
RIA players are exploring GPU-accelerated designs
while competing to maintain an interactive experience
by reducing virtual code execution and CPU
rendering time.1
So, what’s the best RIA framework for developing
large-scale, dynamic online data visualizations, applications,
or games? To answer this, I developed
a test suite to consistently measure raw graphics
performance in RIAs. It consists of a simple
sprite-based particle system coded and optimized
on each framework. By testing under a variety of
languages, RIAs, browsers, and rendering options,
I developed a coherent picture of the current options
for online 2D graphics.