Should you use debounce for scroll events in JavaScript?
No, use throttle for scroll. Debounce would delay execution until scrolling stops completely, which feels laggy. Throttle limits to once per interval, giving continuous feedback during scrolling.
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More FAQs in Debounce Best Practices and Pitfalls
Use 300ms for search, clean up timers on unmount (cancel method), preserve this and arguments (apply + rest), use leading edge for buttons (immediate flag), and consider lodash for production.
Use useEffect cleanup: useEffect(() => { const debounced = debounce(fn, 300); return () => debounced.cancel(); }, []). This clears the timer when the component unmounts.
For production, use lodash. It handles edge cases (this, args, cancel, leading/trailing). For interviews, implement from scratch to show understanding. Use lodash in real code, implement in interviews.
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