Benchmark: Lodash.isEqual vs JSON.stringify Equality Comparison for Shallow Array of Objects.

HTML Preparation code:

<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/lodash@4.17.4/lodash.min.js"></script>

Script Preparation code:

window.foo = [{color: 'red', text: 'TESTTESTTEST', idx: 1}, {color: 'red', text: 'TESTTESTTEST', idx: 1}, {color: 'red', text: 'TESTTESTTEST', idx: 1}, {color: 'red', text: 'TESTTESTTEST', idx: 1}, {color: 'red', text: 'TESTTESTTEST', idx: 1}, {color: 'red', text: 'TESTTESTTEST', idx: 1}, {color: 'red', text: 'TESTTESTTEST', idx: 1}];
window.bar = [{color: 'red', text: 'TESTTESTTEST', idx: 1}, {color: 'red', text: 'TESTTESTTEST', idx: 1}, {color: 'red', text: 'TESTTESTTEST', idx: 1}, {color: 'red', text: 'TESTTESTTEST', idx: 1}, {color: 'red', text: 'TESTTESTTEST', idx: 1}, {color: 'red', text: 'TESTTESTTEST', idx: 1}, {color: 'red', text: 'TESTTESTTEST', idx: 1}];

Tests:

_.isEqual
_.isEqual(window.foo, window.bar)
JSON.stringify
JSON.stringify(window.foo) === JSON.stringify(window.bar);

Rendered benchmark preparation results:

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Previous results

Test case name	Result
_.isEqual
JSON.stringify

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

Latest run results:

No previous run results

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Autogenerated LLM Summary (model llama3.2:3b, generated one year ago):

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Let's break down the provided benchmark and explain what's being tested, compared, and considered.

**Benchmark Definition**

The benchmark is comparing two approaches: `lodash.isEqual` (a function from the Lodash library) and the direct comparison of JSON strings using `JSON.stringify`.

**Test Case 1: _.isEqual**

* **Library**: Lodash (`https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/lodash@4.17.4/lodash.min.js`)
* **Purpose**: The `_isEqual` function checks if two values are equal.
* **Pros**:
	+ Often used in functional programming for equality checks.
	+ Can handle complex data structures, including arrays and objects.
	+ May provide additional features like `deepEqual` or `strictEquality`.
* **Cons**:
	+ Additional dependency (Lodash library) needs to be included.
	+ May be slower due to the overhead of a library function.

**Test Case 2: JSON.stringify Equality Comparison**

* **Approach**: Directly compare two JSON strings using `===`.
* **Pros**:
	+ No additional dependencies required.
	+ Often faster since it's a basic equality check.
	+ Works with most JavaScript engines.
* **Cons**:
	+ May not work correctly for certain edge cases, such as NaN or Date objects.
	+ Can be slower than optimized libraries like Lodash.

**Other Considerations**

* **Type Coercion**: In some browsers, `===` may perform type coercion before comparing the values. This can lead to incorrect results in certain cases. To avoid this, use a library that handles type coercion explicitly, like Lodash.
* **Object Reference Equality**: Some JavaScript engines (e.g., Chrome) may compare object references instead of their actual content when using `===`. This can lead to unexpected behavior if the objects have different properties or methods.

**Benchmark Preparation Code**

The provided script preparation code sets up two arrays, `foo` and `bar`, which are compared using both `_isEqual` and direct comparison with `JSON.stringify`.

**Individual Test Cases**

Each test case uses a single benchmark definition. The first test case compares the output of `_.isEqual` with the result of a direct equality check. The second test case directly compares the JSON strings generated by `JSON.stringify` on the two arrays.

Now, let's take a look at the latest benchmark results:

The results show that `JSON.stringify` is faster than `_isEqual`, with an average execution rate of 82813.78125 per second compared to 164605.5 for `_isEqual`.

However, it's essential to note that these results may not be representative of your specific use case or environment. Factors like browser version, operating system, and hardware can influence the performance differences between these approaches.

In conclusion, when choosing between `lodash.isEqual` and direct comparison with `JSON.stringify`, consider the following:

* Use `_isEqual` if you need a more robust equality check that handles complex data structures.
* Use direct comparison with `JSON.stringify` if you require a simple, fast, and lightweight approach for basic equality checks.

Related benchmarks:

Lodash.isEqual vs JSON.stringify Equality Comparison for Shallow Array of Objects. (version: 0)

Test on isEqual performance

Comparing performance of: _.isEqual vs JSON.stringify

Created: 5 years ago by: Guest

Jump to the latest result

_.isEqual

JSON.stringify

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

No previous run results

Autogenerated LLM Summary (model llama3.2:3b, generated one year ago):