On: Do browsers parse javascript on every page load?

[aristus]

You might be surprised. I ran some benchmarks[0] and found a significant parse time, and significant differences between browsers. tldr: a) parsing has a measurable cost, b) the parser is different from the interpreter, and the speed of one has little or no bearing on the other.

[0] A Hidden Cost of Javascript (2010) http://carlos.bueno.org/2010/02/measuring-javascript-parse-a...

[wingo → aristus]

Lovely article!

I wonder though, how do you know that is parsing time? There are a number of things happening when JS is loaded, and parsing is only one of them.

Also, an update on that article would probably be useful -- a number of things have changed in the major browsers since you wrote it.

Happy hacking :)

[aristus → wingo]

I handwave it by calling it "parse and load" time. ;)