Canvas now helps in loading application templates faster by providing you an option to precompile templates at the server-side by setting the LOAD_COMPILED_TEMPLATE property to 'Y' in the componentpreferences.properties file.
Here's what's in it for you:
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Setting this property to 'N' will compile the templates at the client-side by downloading templates from the server.
For more information on this feature, refer the Configuration Descriptor: Components Preferences section in the Canvas Technology 18.1 - Expert Studio Dev Guide.pdf.