How does plugins work internally? (Is it worth minimizing)

[pmk65]

How does plugins work internally?

I was wondering what happens to plugins once loaded into WeBuilder. And if it's worth minimizing the script code, removing comments etc.

So:
1) Does the plugin script get "compiled" to some internal code when plugin is enabled?
2) Or does it run it in "script" mode?

[Aivars]

Basically all plugins are run when WeBuilder is launched, at which point the plugin script is compiled (to a sort of bytecode) and executed. During initialization plugins should only declare variables and initialize events so they won't have any impact to startup times. After that plugin code is executed only when the corresponding events are triggered, so if plugin only creates menu items, any of its code won't be executed unless these menu items are clicked.
There is no need to minimize script, it won't have any impact. It's better if the code is clear and understandable so that everyone who wants can learn. What you should rather pay attention is memory leaks - e.g. if script constantly creates more and more new objects without freeing them, it could fill up the memory.

[pmk65]

Thanks for the feedback.
That was more or less as I expected. Specially when you have to disable/enable plugins for changes to take effect.