Cache and Prizes - Infrequently Noted

The idea of the browser pre-caching heavily used JS libraries is an attractive nuisance: looks good, probably won't work. Is there a workable version of this idea? What would the constraints on it be? Could it ever be effective and fair? Down the rabbit hole we go.

If you work on a browser, you will often hear remarks like, Why don't you just put [popular framework] in the browser? This is a good question — or at least it illuminates how browser teams think about tradeoffs. Spoiler: it's gnarly. Before we get into it, let's make the subtext of the proposal explicit: Libraries provided this way will be as secure and privacy-preserving as every other browser-provided API. Browsers will cache tools popular among vocal, leading-edge developers . There's plenty of space for caching the most popular frameworks. Developers won't need to do work to realise a ben

related reading

• This Page is Designed to Last: A Manifesto for Preserving Content on the Webjeffhuang.com
• 7 Principles of Rich Web Applicationsrauchg.com
• The new wave of Javascript web frameworksfrontendmastery.com
• Code caching for JavaScript developers · V8v8.dev
• Navigating the future of frontendfrontendmastery.com
• The "Developer Experience" Bait-and-Switch - Infrequently Notedinfrequently.org
• Shared Dictionaries: compression that keeps up with the agentic webblog.cloudflare.com
• Analyzing the codebase of Caffeine: a high performance caching library | Adri’s Blogadriacabeza.github.io
• CDNs aren't just for cachingjvns.ca
• A very concrete explanation of how a cache worksparksb.github.io
• The Performance Inequality Gap, 2023 - Infrequently Notedinfrequently.org
• The Elements of UI Engineering — overreactedoverreacted.io