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Closure Compiler was an amazing tool, and still is. When I was at Lucidchart, I helped convert the 600k line Closure codebase to TypeScript. [1] In fact, Lucid
by paulddraper 3y ago
Closure Compiler was an amazing tool, and still is.
When I was at Lucidchart, I helped convert the 600k line Closure codebase to TypeScript. [1] In fact, Lucidchart still uses Closure (for minification+library, not typechecking).
There are better approaches available in 2023, but Closure Compiler will always have special place in my heart.
[1] https://www.lucidchart.com/techblog/2017/11/16/converting-600k-lines-to-typescript-in-72-hours/ https://www.lucidchart.com/techblog/2017/11/16/converting-60...
- sangnoir 3y agoClosure was/is a technological marvel - years ahead of the competition in some aspects. Closure had dead-code removal years before "tree-shaking" became popular in the Javascript world - both the buzzword and the implementations. The public-facing documentation was terrible, and it got very little evangelism.
- paulddraper 3y ago> The public-facing documentation was terrible, and it got very little evangelism. Like a lot of Google OSS projects, honestly. Cool tech, but awkward for everyone not-Google to use.
- kaba0 3y agoAlso: it allowed multiple teams to work on huge code bases without constantly stepping on their feet - it was basically impossible to write bigger JS apps before.
- gunsch 3y ago+1. The comments bashing Closure in comparison to TypeScript feel like they're missing the timeline. Closure brought modules, requires, compile-time type checking and optimizations to JavaScript years before TypeScript was on the scene. I wouldn't dare start a new project with Closure. But it was such a spiritual predecessor to what we have today in TypeScript, and has a special place in my heart too.