The pattern also seems like it would be an impediment to performance. The JIT would have to do a lot more work to optimize the function, as well as parse code t

The pattern also seems like it would be an impediment to performance. The JIT would have to do a lot more work to optimize the function, as well as parse code that isn't really required. So even if the end-result machine code after JIT was performed was the same, the compiler itself would have a much harder time getting there. This can be an issue on mobile devices that are CPU constrained where you want the page to load as fast as possible.