Chris’ posterous

Looks like one of the better tooltip widgets I have seen. Clean implementation and extensible.

What is the Closure Compiler?

The Closure Compiler is a tool for making JavaScript download and run faster. It is a true compiler for JavaScript. Instead of compiling from a source language to machine code, it compiles from JavaScript to better JavaScript. It parses your JavaScript, analyzes it, removes dead code and rewrites and minimizes what's left. It also checks syntax, variable references, and types, and warns about common JavaScript pitfalls.

To help you work with your transformed code, you can also install the Closure Inspector, a tool that makes it easy to use the Firebug JavaScript debugger with the Compiler's output.

The Closure Compiler has also been integrated with Page Speed, which makes it easier to evaluate the performance gains you can get by using the compiler.

How can I use the Closure Compiler?

You can use the Closure Compiler as:

An open source Java application that you can run from the command line.

A simple web application.

A RESTful API.

To get started with the compiler, see "How do I start" to the right.

What are the benefits of using Closure Compiler?

• Efficiency. The Closure Compiler reduces the size of your JavaScript files and makes them more efficient, helping your application to load faster and reducing your bandwidth needs.

• Code checking. The Closure Compiler provides warnings for illegal JavaScript and warnings for potentially dangerous operations, helping you to produce JavaScript that is less buggy and and easier to maintain.

Now that's what I'm talking about when I think useful. After a disappointing read of the "Go" spec, this seems a little more useful and exciting.

Installing tonight and replacing AVG Free (which replaced Avast, which replaced McAfee, which replaced Norton, whew). I hate antivirus and malware prevention software but since moving off the Mac last year, it has become a way of life on my netbook. So far, this new tool from Microsoft seems like a worthy replacement to all the other tools I have tried including OneCare, which was a horrible system resource hog. Will report back on success/failure in the next couple of days.

Interesting article about Jason Fried of 37Signals. Lots of good points in there.

The lowdown on Windows 7, whose release today will either herald something positive for the Windows world or just another step on the shaky path to mediocrity that has plagued all Windows updates since ME.

Awesome power user's guide to Google Chrome. As a long time Chrome user, I still found some great tips in here. Thanks to the gang at LifeHacker for yet another great article.