5 ms·

Off topic for this, but I've always wondered, why do these tools call this process "minification", not "minimization"?

• austincheney 6y ago
  Because it comes from the word minify, which I believe was created by Douglas Crockford. To my knowledge he created the first minify tool, JSMin, in 2001. He described using that tool as to minify.
• lhorie 6y ago
  Because "minimize code" already has another meaning
  • capableweb 6y ago
    That's the first time I hear that. I always understood minification and minimization as synonyms. What would minimizing code mean for you?
    • lmkg 6y ago
      My parse of "minimizing code" is that it's an approach to writing code, with the goal of writing less code. I would expect it to include things like terse idioms, DRY, preferring data over code, preferring configuration over code, preferring libraries over rolling your own, managing scope, etc. All things about writing different code, which solves the problem but is not always semantically equivalent. By contrast, minification is mechanical semantic-preserving syntax transformations done to a completed program after it written.
      • capableweb 6y ago
        I hear you. I always applied the term "minimalism/minimal code" for that style of programming, which I'm a follower of myself (except the lib/diy route, which tends to be more minimal if you diy).