Extensive Evaluation of Dolphin 7.x.x JavaScript

Evaluation of JavaScript on Dolphin 7.x.x

In my attempt at searching for a better performance level, I have been very busy attempting to understand how to get the best performance out of the server as well as the application. Knowing we had to extensively modify our server configuration in order to accommodate the Dolphin 7.x.x environment, we have started looking at other ways to squeeze performance out of this application.

I started looking at the javascript, reason being, is basically every analytical evaluation tool, complains about javascript. I know that dolphin is rather heavy with javascript, some just randomly tossed into the files.

What I am evaluating and where I am getting my data is from the following resources:

• JSMin is a conservative compressor, written several years ago by Douglas Crockford. It is considered safe (especially if you verify your code with JSLint first-- an excellent thing to do anyway) because it doesn't attempt to change any variable names.
• Dojo shrinksafe is a very popular Java based JavaScript compressor that parses the JavaScript using the rhino library and crunches local variable names.
• Packer (Version 3.1) by Dean Edwards, is also a very popular JavaScript compressor, that can go beyond regular compression and also add advanced on-the-fly decompression with a JavaScript runtime piece.
• the YUI Compressor (Version 2.4.2) is a newer compressor written by Julien Lecomte, that aims to combine the safety of JSMin with the higher compression levels acheived by Dojo Shrinksafe. Like Dojo shrinksafe, it is written in Java and based on the rhino library.
• Also writings from Crockford author of JSMin http://javascript.crockford.com/code.html Code Conventions of the JavaScript Programming Language.

Ok, so yes I am new to all of this, and trust the resources on the internet in regards to javascript and compression. So here is where I start, and this could prove to be elongated. Andrew Boon, this is not an attempt to thwart the application, this is something that needs to be done, and should have been done, and in order for optimal performance, we are looking for resolution to such issues as javascript compression out of the box on future releases.

I have compiled a list of errors or tweaks that need to be looked at on this next release. Most of the issues are simple to fix, missing semicolons, removing implied globals, removing the (eval) instances, changing some directives on syntax. removing variables that are not being used. Just a general clean up of the JavaScript, so we can start to implement a compression agent for the dolphin environment.

I have had to put this PDF file in a zip format, because i was unable to get it to read from FF.

JavaScript Eval by Terabyte Hosting Solutions

Guys, on the jslint site there are multiple options that can be selected, my evaluation was ran from the viewpoint that we need to assess exactly what we are dealing with. Please feel free to run your own evaluation on these files. Understanding this is not a complete list of all of the javascript files that are part of the Dolphin 7.x.x environment. We really need all of the javascript to be looked at. My next adventure is to evaluate the CSS, and see how this can be reduced.

Guys, the other large item that needs to be addressed, is that javascript should not be top-loaded, can we please get this addressed so that our sites are loading optimally.

As you know, there were suggestions provided in regards to server configuration. This same server configuration was never mentioned from the onset. Server configs were working perfectly, safely and securely with Dolphin 6.x.x, so if there were known server config changes that were required, these should have been part of the documentation.

With that being said, Terabyte Hosting Solutions has been making those adjustments, and there has been some improvement in server CPU load, but what we see is that the load switched from CPU to RAM. So now, this can become a problem, as there is no known notation on what RAM requirements we should have for the Dolphin 7.x.x?

On a non-busy (non-productive) site, 2GB of RAM does seem to suffice, but what happens when an account actually does produce some traffic?

AlexT, would be much appreciated if you would look into the syntax errors produced from jslint, and see what can be done to get our javascript files up to the coding convention standards.

Granted, we are not looking for a perfect set of files, but I have compiled 30 pages of syntax errors out of the limited number of javascript files that i have evaluated.

Thanks,

DosDawg