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

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

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

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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 their pros and cons.

**Benchmark Definition JSON**

The benchmark definition JSON contains two main sections:

1. **Script Preparation Code**: This section defines two arrays, `window.foo` and `window.bar`, which are used as input data for the benchmark. These arrays contain objects with nested properties and multiple records.
2. **Html Preparation Code**: This section includes a script tag that loads the Lodash library version 4.17.4. Lodash is a popular JavaScript utility library that provides functional programming helpers, including `isEqual` (which we'll discuss later).

**Individual Test Cases**

There are two test cases:

1. **_.isEqual(window.foo, window.bar)**: This test case compares the equality of the two arrays using Lodash's `isEqual` function.
2. **JSON.stringify(window.foo) === JSON.stringify(window.bar)**: This test case compares the stringified versions of both arrays using the `==` operator.

**What's being tested**

Both test cases aim to measure the performance of their respective algorithms:

1. **_.isEqual(window.foo, window.bar)**: Measures the performance of Lodash's `isEqual` function when comparing two arrays.
2. **JSON.stringify(window.foo) === JSON.stringify(window.bar)**: Measures the performance of converting an array to a string and then comparing it with another string.

**Options compared**

The options being compared are:

1. **Lodash's `isEqual` function**: The first test case compares the performance of Lodash's `isEqual` function, which is designed for deep equality checks.
2. **String comparison using `==` operator**: The second test case compares the performance of converting an array to a string and then comparing it with another string.

**Pros and Cons**

Here are some pros and cons of each approach:

1. **Lodash's `isEqual` function**:
	* Pros: Designed for deep equality checks, handles complex data structures, and is optimized for performance.
	* Cons: May be slower than simple string comparison due to its additional overhead.
2. **String comparison using `==` operator**:
	* Pros: Simple, fast, and easy to implement.
	* Cons: Inefficient for large datasets or complex data structures, may not handle edge cases correctly.

**Library used (Lodash)**

Lodash is a popular JavaScript utility library that provides various functional programming helpers, including:

* `isEqual`: A function for checking if two values are deeply equal.
* `String.prototype.equals` (not used in this benchmark): A method for comparing two strings using a custom implementation.

**Special JS feature or syntax**

None of the test cases rely on special JavaScript features or syntax. Both tests use standard JavaScript constructs and library functions (Lodash's `isEqual` function).

Now that we've broken down the benchmark, let's discuss alternatives:

Other alternatives to Lodash's `isEqual` function include:

* **JSON.stringify** with a custom implementation: An alternative approach could involve manually implementing a deep equality check using JSON stringification.
* **Custom equality checks**: Other libraries or implementations might provide custom equality checks for arrays and objects.

In terms of browser-specific optimizations, some browsers may optimize their built-in `==` operator for certain data types (e.g., strings) or provide specialized equality checks for specific use cases. However, these optimizations are usually implementation-dependent and not standardized across all browsers.

Related benchmarks:

Lodash.isEqual vs JSON.stringify Equality Comparison for array of objects with nested properties and many records (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):