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Software Engineering vocabulary · Web, Mobile and Interface Development

Tree shaking

Meaning in software engineering, with examples

nounAdvanced term

In software engineering, tree shaking means: A build optimization that removes unused exported code from the output when the tool can determine it is unnecessary.

In Turkish: kullanılmayan dışa aktarımları eleme

How it is used

Used with module bundlers. Side effects and module structure can limit what is safe to remove.

Example sentences

  1. During the build, tree shaking removed the unused chart helpers from the production bundle.

    Only code the tool judged unnecessary was excluded from the delivered output.

  2. We preserved the initialization module because tree shaking must not discard its side effects.

    An unused export does not mean that executing its module has no observable effect.

Common collocations

  • enable tree shaking
  • tree shaking support
  • bundlerA tool that combines many JavaScript, CSS and other files and their dependencies into a few optimized files that browsers can load quickly.
  • dead codeCode that is never run or whose result is never used, for example an old function nobody calls. It only makes the codebase harder to read.

More terms: Web, Mobile and Interface Development

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