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Comment by weareconvo | Hacker News Reader

> You don't say if you used the 'dart2js --minify' setting

I did. I'm no stranger to Closure Compiler, and even after fiddling around with ADVANCED_OPTIMIZATIONS for an hour, those ridiculous $variables persisted. What was even weirder was, just as a test, I imported a module I wasn't even using at all, and for some reason, Closure Compiler still refused to remove its code...

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Just for grins, I compiled the Dart app I'm working on now with --minify. It went from 530K to 240K. Then I cleared the --minify flag and used the Closure Compiler but it failed with errors. Not sure what is going on yet, but I don't think this is necessary or advisable -- I've never read of anyone using the Closure Compiler with Dart. Here is a sample few lines from --minify. It's fairly minimal.

function I(){} init() var $=I.p var $$={}

Okay, but um, why did minify not get rid of the module i wasn't even using?

Just to be clear, here is what I did.

  Dart source -> dart2js -> JavaScript (530K) 
  Dart source -> dart2js -> JavaScript (530K) -> Closure Compiler -> *error*  
  Dart source -> dart2js --minify -> JavaScript (240K)

If I import a module and don't use it, such as 'dart:utf', the resulting JavaScript output size does not go up. If I call a function in dart:utf the JavaScript size goes up. If I stop calling the function, the size goes down. If I create a function but don't call it, the size stays the same. If I call it, the size goes up. Everything seems to be working. They just release a new version a few days ago and I'm on the latest.

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