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Closure Compiler

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UglifyJS

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Closure Compiler vs UglifyJS: What are the differences?

# Introduction
In web development, minifying JavaScript code is crucial for improving page load times and reducing file sizes. Closure Compiler and UglifyJS are two popular tools used for this purpose, each with its unique features and differences.

1. **Compilation Level**:
Closure Compiler offers advanced compilation levels (Simple, Advanced, and Whole Program) for optimizing code, while UglifyJS primarily focuses on minifying code without performing advanced optimizations.

2. **Code Structure**:
Closure Compiler rewrites and optimizes JavaScript code based on static program analysis, which can lead to tighter and more efficient code. In contrast, UglifyJS focuses on reducing code size by removing whitespace, renaming variables, and simplifying expressions.

3. **ES6 Support**:
Closure Compiler provides better support for modern JavaScript features such as ES6 and ES7 syntax by transpiling them to ES5 during the compilation process. UglifyJS, on the other hand, may struggle with handling advanced ES6 syntax and features.

4. **Error Reporting**:
Closure Compiler gives detailed error messages and warnings during compilation, helping developers identify and fix issues in their code. UglifyJS, while effective at minifying code, may not provide as informative error messages when issues arise.

5. **Community Support**:
Closure Compiler has a smaller but dedicated community that actively maintains and updates the tool, providing consistent support and improvements. UglifyJS, being more widely used, has a larger community but may have slower updates and fewer new features.

6. **Integration**:
Closure Compiler seamlessly integrates with other Google web development tools and workflows, making it a preferred choice for projects within the Google ecosystem. UglifyJS, being a standalone tool, can be easily integrated into various build processes and tools.

In Summary, Closure Compiler offers advanced compilation levels and enhanced error reporting, while UglifyJS focuses on code size reduction and ease of integration within different workflows.
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Pros of Closure Compiler
Pros of UglifyJS
  • 1
    The best performing output
  • 1
    Small output size
  • 1
    Dead code elimination
  • 1
    ES6 support
  • 1
    Bundle support for CommonJS, ES6, .
  • 0
    Ease
  • 0
    Great for javascript minification

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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.

What is 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).

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What companies use Closure Compiler?
What companies use UglifyJS?
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What tools integrate with Closure Compiler?
What tools integrate with UglifyJS?

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What are some alternatives to Closure Compiler and UglifyJS?
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.
TypeScript
TypeScript is a language for application-scale JavaScript development. It's a typed superset of JavaScript that compiles to plain JavaScript.
Git
Git is a free and open source distributed version control system designed to handle everything from small to very large projects with speed and efficiency.
GitHub
GitHub is the best place to share code with friends, co-workers, classmates, and complete strangers. Over three million people use GitHub to build amazing things together.
See all alternatives