> … what's the point of optimizing function call and loop overhead? For what real-world apps will this make a noticeable difference?
It will make a difference in real-world apps which are currently impossible because they would perform poorly. It will become reasonable to start putting real number-crunching into browser-side JavaScript code—things like crypto, physics calculations, etc. As one example, JavaScript games are going to get a whole lot better in the next couple of years.
(Not to say that they shouldn’t be optimizing DOM access, or scrolling speed, or whatever.)
What you're saying is reasonable - for apps that don't need much UI. I wonder, though, how many real-world examples there are of apps that people have tried and failed to write in Javascript for this reason.
For those of us working on things where the UI requirements are more intensive, little progress has been made. Perhaps the pure JS stuff is getting more effort because it's more glamorous?
It will make a difference in real-world apps which are currently impossible because they would perform poorly. It will become reasonable to start putting real number-crunching into browser-side JavaScript code—things like crypto, physics calculations, etc. As one example, JavaScript games are going to get a whole lot better in the next couple of years.
(Not to say that they shouldn’t be optimizing DOM access, or scrolling speed, or whatever.)