Properly Deploying JavaScript Applications

Coding JavaScript could be done really fast if the developer knows how to piece together functions and represent them through proper coding. As long as every information and data needed for developing an application is in place, developers could continuously build an application without any problem. That already includes testing of functions as well as access of data.

But developing a JavaScript based application or building a set of JavaScript functions for Ajax requires thorough evaluation before deployment. Building JavaScript or Ajax based application has been proven to be difficult because of the coding it requires. This is most true in Ajax since it has to interact not only in JavaScript but also with other programming languages. In its simplest form, an Ajax based application is an interaction of JavaScript, HTML and XML. But today’s demand for online application has greatly increased which means additional languages has to be used. It is now common to encounter an Ajax based application with additional languages such as PHP, C++ or even Flash.

The result of this is longer coding. In a perfect world, the application should run smoothly, but that is not always the case. The application will be run slower since the browser will take time to read the very long code before executing them.

There are two answers to this problem:

The first answer is to apply a tool that will reduce coding. This type of application will evaluate the code and transform it into something smaller. By using this tool, developers should increase the speed of their application up to five times more depending on the coding. One of the most popular tools that could do this is GZIP. This tool could be easily integrated into the function and its end result is an application with smaller code. GZIP has grown in popularity because of Ajax based applications have also grown in popularity and eventually in coding. GZIP could easily evaluate JavaScript and transform a complicated function into a function that could be executed immediately by any browser.

The only problem with this tool is that it inhibits future customization and update. The developer has to go back to the original code and run them again in GZIP before an update is accepted.

Another solution to the problem is the coding technique called concatenation. Concatenation could easily combine two functions without changing the entire function altogether. JavaScript uses the plus (+) sign to combine to functions. This operator actively informs the browser to piece the function altogether.

By combining them, the function could be read faster by the browser. This, of course, has to be done as much as possible to improve the performance of the application. This would mean delay in the development of JavaScript or Ajax based application but this necessary “evil” has to be done when the application is too big too be handled by a browser.

By effectively using GZIP and concatenation, developers would be able to deploy a highly efficient and interactive application for different browsers.