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

HTML Preparation code:

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

Script Preparation code:

window.foo = ['cat', 'dog', 'bird'];
window.bar = ['cat', 'dog', 'bird'];

Tests:

_.isEqual
_.isEqual(window.foo, window.bar)
JSON.stringify
'["cat","dog","bird"]' === 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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I'll break down the provided JSON benchmark and explain what's being tested, compared, and their pros and cons.

**Benchmark Overview**

The test compares two JavaScript approaches for checking equality between two arrays of strings: `_.isEqual` from the Lodash library and the built-in `===` operator with `JSON.stringify`. The test aims to measure which approach is faster.

**_.isEqual vs JSON.stringify**

1. **Lodash.isEqual**
	* Purpose: A utility function that recursively checks if two objects are equal.
	* Pros:
		+ Can handle nested objects and arrays.
		+ Can be customized with a custom equality function.
	* Cons:
		+ May have overhead due to recursion and object creation.
		+ May not perform as well for large arrays or objects.
2. **JSON.stringify**
	* Purpose: A method that converts an object (or array) into a JSON string, which can be compared using the `===` operator.
	* Pros:
		+ Lightweight and fast.
		+ Can handle simple primitive types like strings.
	* Cons:
		+ May not work correctly for nested objects or arrays with complex structures.
		+ Requires conversion to a JSON string, which may introduce overhead.

**Comparison**

The test measures the execution time of both approaches on two identical arrays: `window.foo` and `window.bar`. The goal is to determine which approach is faster.

**Special Considerations**

* No special JavaScript features or syntax are used in this benchmark.
* No libraries other than Lodash are required.

**Other Alternatives**

If you need to compare arrays of strings without using the built-in `===` operator, consider the following alternatives:

1. **Array.prototype.every()**: This method returns true if all elements of the array pass a test provided as a function. You can use it in combination with Array.prototype.some() to create a custom equality check.
2. **Custom implementation using Array.prototype.forEach() and a callback function**: You can write your own loop to iterate through the arrays and compare each element.

In summary, Lodash's `isEqual` is suitable for complex equality checks, but may have performance overhead due to recursion and object creation. The built-in `===` operator with `JSON.stringify` is lightweight and fast, but may not work correctly for nested objects or arrays.

Related benchmarks:

Lodash.isEqual vs JSON.stringify Equality Comparison for Shallow Array of Strings. mcki (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):