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The Closure Compiler is the big news. As the article says, it turns your regular JavaScript code into compact, high-performance JavaScript code. This is some of the magic behind Google Maps, Gmail, and I assume Wave.

This is a very big deal for JavaScript developers because it is like having JSLint, YUI Compressor, and Chuck Norris rolled into one.

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"it turns your regular JavaScript code into compact, high-performance JavaScript code."

It won't actually make your JavaScript much faster, if it does at all. The major benefits are the exclusion of unused code, and code in-lining where possible. This helps a lot in terms of cutting down loading times, but your code is still only really going to be about as efficient as it was before.

Not true if you use objects as namespaces -- it is capable of reducing a.b.c.d to one access, particularly with inlining, and this construct has a runtime cost in JS.

Interesting. I stand amended.

Wave is built with GWT (http://www.techworld.com.au/article/305043/aussie_devs_make_...), which has its own JavaScript compiler.

But do GWT and Closure use the same technology, that I don't know.

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