Chapter 8. Keeping JavaScript lean and fast

This chapter covers

  • Affecting the loading behavior of the <script> tag
  • Replacing jQuery with smaller and faster API-compatible alternatives
  • Using native JavaScript methods to replace jQuery functionality
  • Animating with the requestAnimationFrame method

The world of JavaScript has exploded into a mélange of libraries and frameworks, leaving us with a slew of options for developing websites. In our excitement to use learn and use them, we often forget that the surest path to a fast website is a willingness to embrace minimalism.

This isn’t to say these tools don’t have a place in the web development landscape. They can be quite useful and can save developers hours of writing code. The goal of ...

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