[brundolf]

I think their point is that what's referred to as "tree-shaking" in the JS world is (I'm pretty sure) normal and standard for most statically-compiled languages like Rust. So you won't bring in anything you don't need, though you will still be bringing in lots of stuff you do need

[azakai]

Generally true, but just to add to that, in languages like Rust and C++ you often end up including stuff you don't need due to toolchain limitations. For example, indirect calls (from Rust traits or C++ virtual methods) are hard to get rid of in general.

This is a pretty significant cause of bloat in practice, sadly, but toolchain improvements may help in the future. So for now, JS's advantage of the standard library being in the VM is pretty significant.