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JavaScript·Intermediate·Coding·1 min read

Is requestAnimationFrame a throttle?

Short interview answer

It can coalesce visual work to at most once per rendering frame, which is often better than an arbitrary millisecond interval for DOM reads and writes. It is not a general time-based throttle and pauses or slows in background tabs.

Example

JavaScript
function rafThrottle(fn) {  let scheduled = false;  return (...args) => {    if (scheduled) return;    scheduled = true;    requestAnimationFrame(() => { scheduled = false; fn(...args); });  };}

Key takeaway

Explain the underlying mental model clearly, then support it with a concrete example and its trade-offs.

← Back to Debounce and throttle

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