Lobo is an open source, platform independent web browser that is written completely in Java.
• Lobo is being actively developed with the aim to fully support HTML 4, Javascript and CSS2. Lobo also supports direct JavaFX rendering.
• The general goal of the Lobo browser effort is to produce a browser that is fast, complete, easy to extend, feature-rich and secure.
• Lobo uses the Cobra toolkit (pure Java HTML toolkit that includes a DOM parser & a renderer). Cobra uses Rhino 1.6R5 Javascript engine, which is released by the Mozilla Foundation.
Why a Pure Java Browser?
There are a number of advantages :
- Security:
In principle, a Java(not to be confused with javascript) program is less suceptible to certain types of vulnerabilities such as a buffer overflow attack. Java's security model can also allow web content to have access to a complex set of APIs, except in a controlled sandbox. - Extensibility:
A Java-based application can be extended via powerful cross-platform plugins. Consider the difference this has made for Java software such as jEdit and Eclipse. (Lobo already has a plugin API). - New paradigms:
With the help of Java we can implement new powerful cross-platform and secure mechanisms to represent web content. As of version 0.98, JavaFX and Java are first-class citizens in Lobo, on par with HTML. - Portability:
This is the obvious advantage of a pure Java application.