What is debouncing and throttling?

Can you explain what debouncing and throttling are in programming?

Sure! Debouncing and throttling are techniques used to control the rate at which a function is executed. Debouncing ensures that a function is only called after a certain period of inactivity, while throttling limits the function to be called at most once in a specified time interval.

Can you give me an example of when to use debouncing?

Absolutely! A common use case for debouncing is in search input fields. When a user types, you can debounce the search function to only trigger after they've stopped typing for a set amount of time, reducing unnecessary API calls.

And what about throttling? When should I use that?

Throttling is useful for scenarios like handling scroll events. If you want to execute a function while the user is scrolling, you can throttle it to run at most once every 200 milliseconds, ensuring better performance.

Are there any libraries that can help with implementing these techniques?

Yes, there are several libraries like Lodash that provide built-in functions for both debouncing and throttling, making it easy to implement these techniques in your projects.