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Closure Compiler

A JavaScript checker and optimizer

What is Closure Compiler?

The Closure Compiler is a tool for making JavaScript download and run faster. It is a true compiler for JavaScript. Instead of compiling from a source language to machine code, it compiles from JavaScript to better JavaScript. It parses your JavaScript, analyzes it, removes dead code and rewrites and minimizes what's left. It also checks syntax, variable references, and types, and warns about common JavaScript pitfalls.
Closure Compiler is a tool in the JavaScript Optimizers category of a tech stack.
Closure Compiler is an open source tool with 7.2K GitHub stars and 1.1K GitHub forks. Here’s a link to Closure Compiler's open source repository on GitHub

Who uses Closure Compiler?

Companies
13 companies reportedly use Closure Compiler in their tech stacks, including Lucidchart, Lucidspark, Lucidscale, Xerpa, and Koch Essen Kommunikation + Design GmbH.

Developers
68 developers on StackShare have stated that they use Closure Compiler.

Closure Compiler Integrations

Pros of Closure Compiler
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The best performing output
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Small output size
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Dead code elimination
1
ES6 support
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Bundle support for CommonJS, ES6, .
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Ease

Blog Posts

Closure Compiler's Features

  • parses JavaScript, analyzes it, removes dead code and rewrites and minimizes what's left
  • checks syntax, variable references, and types, and warns about common JavaScript pitfalls
  • transpiling some ECMAScript 6 code to ECMAScript 3

Closure Compiler Alternatives & Comparisons

What are some alternatives to Closure Compiler?
Webpack
A bundler for javascript and friends. Packs many modules into a few bundled assets. Code Splitting allows to load parts for the application on demand. Through "loaders" modules can be CommonJs, AMD, ES6 modules, CSS, Images, JSON, Coffeescript, LESS, ... and your custom stuff.
Babel
Babel will turn your ES6+ code into ES5 friendly code, so you can start using it right now without waiting for browser support.
UglifyJS
This package implements a general-purpose JavaScript parser/compressor/beautifier toolkit. It is developed on NodeJS, but it should work on any JavaScript platform supporting the CommonJS module system (and if your platform of choice doesn’t support CommonJS, you can easily implement it, or discard the exports.* lines from UglifyJS sources).
TypeScript
TypeScript is a language for application-scale JavaScript development. It's a typed superset of JavaScript that compiles to plain JavaScript.

Closure Compiler's Followers
61 developers follow Closure Compiler to keep up with related blogs and decisions.