Which technique is crucial for ensuring fast website load times?

Performance optimization is crucial for ensuring fast website load times because it encompasses a variety of techniques aimed at improving the efficiency and speed of a website. This can include reducing file sizes, minimizing HTTP requests, leveraging browser caching, optimizing images, and using content delivery networks (CDNs) among other strategies. By focusing on performance optimization, developers can significantly decrease the loading time of web pages, which enhances user experience and can positively impact search engine rankings.

Additionally, while some of the other options may have specific applications, they do not directly address the overall goal of fast load times. For instance, code obfuscation is primarily used to protect JavaScript code from being easily read and understood, rather than making a website faster. Increasing image resolutions typically results in larger file sizes, which can slow down load times if not managed properly. Using longer scripts can also lead to slower performance since larger scripts may take more time to download and execute. Thus, the comprehensive approach of performance optimization is fundamental in creating efficient web applications.