Debouncing in JavaScript: What It Is and How to Use It

Debouncing

In web development, especially when dealing with events like scrolling, resizing, or keypresses, you might notice that these events can fire off multiple times in quick succession. This can lead to performance issues or undesired behavior in your application. To handle such scenarios, we use a technique called “debouncing.”

What is Debouncing?

Debouncing is a programming practice used to ensure that a function is only executed once after a specified period of time has elapsed since the last time it was invoked. This is particularly useful for optimizing performance and avoiding excessive function calls.

How Does Debouncing Work?

Imagine a scenario where a user is typing in a search input field, and you want to make an API call to fetch suggestions. Without debouncing, every keystroke would trigger an API call, leading to numerous requests. Debouncing allows you to delay the execution of the function until the user has stopped typing for a certain period.

Implementing Debouncing in JavaScript

Here’s a simple implementation of a debounce function:

function debounce(func, wait) {
  let timeout;
  return function(...args) {
    clearTimeout(timeout)…