chitaranjan biswal
3 min readJul 3, 2023

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Understanding Vendor.js, Polyfill.js, Style.css, Main.js, and Runtime.js in an Angular Application.

Introduction :

When building an Angular application, developers often come across various JavaScript and CSS files that play a crucial role in the application’s functionality and styling. In this blog post, we will explore the purpose and significance of several key files commonly found in an Angular project: vendor.js, polyfill.js, style.css, main.js, and runtime.js. Understanding these files will help developers gain insights into the inner workings of an Angular application and optimize their projects effectively.

Vendor.js :

The vendor.js file is generated during the build process of an Angular application. It contains all the external libraries and dependencies that your application relies on. These can include frameworks like Angular itself, as well as third-party libraries like RxJS, Angular Material, or Bootstrap. The purpose of bundling these dependencies into a single file is to optimize the application’s loading time by reducing the number of network requests needed to fetch multiple JavaScript files.

By bundling the vendor dependencies together, the Angular build process creates a separate chunk that can be cached by the browser, resulting in faster subsequent loads of your application.

Polyfill.js :

Polyfills play a vital role in ensuring that your Angular application runs smoothly across different browsers and versions. They provide modern JavaScript features to older browsers that do not natively support them. The polyfill.js file includes a collection of JavaScript code that “polyfills” or replicates missing features in older browsers.

Angular applications leverage features from the ECMAScript standards, and not all browsers support the latest specifications. Polyfills bridge this gap by enabling the use of modern JavaScript syntax, APIs, and functionalities in older browsers. The polyfill.js file is automatically generated during the build process, and its contents are based on the browser support configuration specified in the Angular project.

Main.js :

The main.js file is the entry point of your Angular application. It contains the bootstrap logic that initializes and launches your Angular application. When the browser loads the main.js file, it triggers the Angular framework to start, which in turn bootstraps the root module of your application.

The main.js file is generated during the Angular build process. It includes the necessary code to set up the application environment, load the required modules, and configure the application for rendering in the browser. It also handles other essential tasks such as registering service workers for progressive web apps (PWAs) and enabling production optimizations like AOT (Ahead-of-Time) compilation.

Runtime.js :

The runtime.js file is another crucial component of an Angular application. It provides the runtime environment necessary for the execution of your application. The file contains the core Angular runtime code, which enables Angular-specific functionalities such as change detection, dependency injection, and routing.

Conclusion:

In this blog post, we explored the significance of several key files in an Angular application, including vendor.js, polyfill.js, style

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