Question 1

What does JavaScript minification do?

Accepted Answer

It reduces file size by: removing whitespace and comments, shortening variable names (mangling), combining statements, and removing dead code. Variable mangling is the most significant size reduction: 'longVariableName' becomes 'a'.

Question 2

Does minification change how the code behaves?

Accepted Answer

Properly done, no. Comments are non-functional; whitespace is syntactically insignificant (mostly). Variable renaming is safe within properly scoped code. However, code that relies on Function.name, variable name reflection, or eval() may break after mangling.

Question 3

Should I minify in development?

Accepted Answer

No. Development should use the original readable source for debugging. Minification is a production build step. Use source maps (*.map files) alongside minified files to enable browser DevTools to show original source during debugging even in production.

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