An Overview of Javascript Compression
Javascript Minification refers to the process of removing unnecessary characters from the javascript source code. This is the reason it is called minification, as all the data which is not necessary is removed from the source code and java script is compressed. Even though, these characters are removed from the script, the functionality is not disturbed at all. Thus, the javascript code will function the same way as it was working before compressing the code.
What Data is Removed in Javascript Minification?
Since many tools are used to compress the javascript, every tool has its own way of removing the avoidable source codes. Generally, the data focused while compressing javascript is whitespaces, newline characters, comments, etc.
How to Compress Javascript
Though, there are ample of Java script compressing tools available online, it is not a good idea to use any. For better results, it is important to use the quality Java script Minifiers. And, for that Coder’s tool offer the latest version of the Javascript Minifier. It aims to remove the avoidable codes and improve the functionality of your website.
What is Obfuscation?
Obfuscation is the deliberate act of creating obfuscated code, i.e. source or machine code that is difficult for humans to understand. It is something similar to encryption however machine can able to understand the code and able to execute the code. Best case scenario, it might be to hide intellectual property. Worst case, it’s to hide some malicious intent.
Why Obfuscation?
- Code size will be reduced.
- Control flow flattening
- Hide the business logic and your code from others.
- In JavaScript, download time will reduce.
- Strings extraction and encryption
- Dead code injection
- Reverse Engineering is highly difficult.
Encryption
Often obfuscation is confused with encryption, however, they are completely different things. Encryption conceals a message by translating it to a seemingly random format that can only be decoded using a hidden key.
By comparison, obfuscation actually masks the message by making it hard to read and by translating it from one format to another. One crucial distinction being that an encrypted script will not be explicitly readable without first using a secret key to decrypt it. Obfuscated scripts on the other hand should be explicitly executable and should deliver exactly the same results as the original script.
However, this does not mean encryption is not used to conceal malicious code, it definitely does. If code is encrypted, the attacker must be able to decode this code before executing it on the target computer , which means that this form of attack demands a much higher degree of complexity.
Advantages Of Javascript Minification
The foremost advantage of compressing javascript is, it helps to speed up the downloading or transfer of the javascript code from the server. The reason behind the improvement of the website’s javascript is that the amount of data to be downloaded is removed. Less data means it will take less time to process and download.
As a concluding part, compressing java script makes the functioning of the site very much effective. It makes your site use less bandwidth, save energy and money. And, if talked about the process of doing it, the task has become very easy with the entrance of advanced Javascript Minifier tools offered by Coder’s Tool.