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sam narrainen
212 PointsHye Why is that for instance a wordpress site has many .js files, why can't we just put everything in one file ?
.js files organisation
3 Answers
Shawn Flanigan
Courses Plus Student 15,815 PointsSam, You might be able to put all of your javascript into one file (as long as there are no conflicting variable or function names), but if you ever need to update a single plugin or library, you're basically sunk. Sorting through a gigantic javascript file could prove pretty tough and tedious...especially if you've minified it.
Javascript files can also be cached, so you don't want to force users to reload all of your javascript if only a few functions have changed. In the same vein, you don't always want to force users to load javascript they won't be using on any given page (imagine walking to Spanish class with your Math, English, History, and Science books...and gym clothes. Better off leaving them in your locker until you need them).
Maybe others will chime in with different opinions, but I hope this makes sense!
Danielle Gaither
11,824 PointsThis is terribly late to the party, but it's generally bad programming practice in any language to stuff everything into one file. If you want any sort of modularity/code reusability, it makes sense to separate things into different files, in addition to the reasons stated above.
Nathan Cooper
471 PointsIt's possible to concatenate multiple js files and serve a single-file, with a task-runner such as Grunt.