Benchmark: Lodash.isEqual vs JSON.stringify Equality Comparison for array of objects with nested properties

HTML Preparation code:

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

Script Preparation code:

window.foo = [{accessPath: 'derp.merp', ancestors: ['blah', 'blah']}, {accessPath: 'merp', ancestors: ['blah', 'merp']}, {accessPath: 'derp', ancestors: ['blah', 'derp']}];
window.bar = [{accessPath: 'derp.merp', ancestors: ['blah', 'blahblah']}, {accessPath: 'merp', ancestors: ['blah', 'merp']}, {accessPath: 'derp', ancestors: ['blah', 'derp']}];

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:

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

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Let's break down the benchmark and explain what's being tested.

**Benchmark Overview**

The benchmark is designed to compare two approaches for checking equality between two objects: `Lodash.isEqual` and comparing JSON strings using the `===` operator (with `JSON.stringify`).

**Lodash.isEqual vs. JSON.stringify Equality Comparison**

In this benchmark, we have two test cases:

1. `_.isEqual(window.foo, window.bar)`
2. `JSON.stringify(window.foo) === JSON.stringify(window.bar)`

Here's what's being tested in each case:

* `_.isEqual`: This tests the performance of Lodash's `isEqual` function, which is used to check if two objects are equal.
	+ Pros: Fast and efficient, especially for large objects. Lodash provides a robust implementation that handles many edge cases.
	+ Cons: May have slower startup times due to the overhead of loading the Lodash library.
* `JSON.stringify` comparison: This tests the performance of comparing JSON strings using the `===` operator.
	+ Pros: Fast and lightweight, as it only requires a simple string comparison. No external libraries are needed.
	+ Cons: May not work correctly for all object types (e.g., if the objects contain functions or undefined values), which can lead to incorrect results.

**Other Considerations**

* **Object Comparison**: The benchmark uses objects with nested properties, such as `accessPath` and `ancestors`. This helps simulate real-world scenarios where objects are compared frequently.
* **Libraries**: Lodash is a popular utility library that provides various functions for working with data. In this case, it's used to implement the `isEqual` function.

**Special JS Features/Syntax**

None mentioned in this benchmark.

**Alternatives**

Other alternatives for checking equality between two objects include:

1. Using the built-in `===` operator without `JSON.stringify`, which is faster but may not work correctly for all object types.
2. Implementing a custom equality comparison function using JavaScript's `Object.prototype.toString()` and `==`/`===` operators.
3. Using a dedicated library like [fast-assert](https://github.com/eduardobarbosa/fast-assert) or [deep-equal](https://github.com/nicoclout/deep-equal) for fast and reliable equality comparisons.

Keep in mind that the choice of equality comparison method depends on the specific use case, performance requirements, and personal preference.

Related benchmarks:

Lodash.isEqual vs JSON.stringify Equality Comparison for array of objects with nested properties (version: 0)

Test on isEqual performance

Comparing performance of: _.isEqual vs JSON.stringify

Created: 4 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):