[lotwxyz]

You can't compile the code of scripting languages, so please stop using that term. You may be doing something to the "source code", but it is not compiling! And I would argue that the thing you are doing to that code is never a good thing.

[dan15]

> You can't compile the code of scripting languages

Of course you can. Compiling is a process that takes some code as input and produces other code as output. The output code doesn't have to be at a lower level of abstraction (like assembly or machine code).

A compiler that produces code at the same level on abstraction (eg. going from TypeScript to JavaScript, or newer JS to ES3 JS) is often called a "transpiler" but a transpiler is just a type of compiler, and it's totally valid to call it such.

[lotwxyz]

You can use all the fancy terms for the mangling and intentional obfuscation of crappy code that you want. Sure, you might think that minification is a valid use for such tools, but really, there is no alternative to just sitting down and writing the right code so that it may eventually become a standard thing, and so we won't need to keep reinventing the wheel over and over again.

I know of what I speak. I am in the process of turning the world of web development upside down with Linux on the Web (https://dev.lotw.xyz/desk.os).