Benchmark: map vs if/else vs switch

Script Preparation code:

var map = new Map([
  [0, "Initializing"],
  [1, "Idle"],
  [2, "Running"],
  [3, "Stop"],
  [4, "Error"],
]);
function switchCase(value) {
  switch (value) {
    case 0: return "Initializing";
    case 1: return "Idle";
    case 2: return "Running";
    case 3: return "Stop";
    case 4: return "Error";
    default: return void 0;
  }
}
function ifElse(value) {
  if (value === 0) {
    return "Initializing";
  } else if (value === 1) {
    return "Idle";
  } else if (value === 2) {
    return "Running";
  } else if (value === 3) {
    return "Stop";
  } else if (value === 4) {
    return "Error";
  }
}

Tests:

map lookup
let value = map.get(0); value = map.get(32); value = map.get(1); value = map.get(33); value = map.get(2); value = map.get(34); value = map.get(3); value = map.get(35); value = map.get(4);
switch case
let value = switchCase(0); value = switchCase(32); value = switchCase(1); value = switchCase(33); value = switchCase(2); value = switchCase(34); value = switchCase(3); value = switchCase(35); value = switchCase(4);
if/else
let value = ifElse(0); value = ifElse(32); value = ifElse(1); value = ifElse(33); value = ifElse(2); value = ifElse(34); value = ifElse(3); value = ifElse(35); value = ifElse(4);

Rendered benchmark preparation results:

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Previous results

Test case name	Result
map lookup
switch case
if/else

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

Latest run results:

Run details: (Test run date: one month ago)

User agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/134.0.0.0 Safari/537.36 Edg/134.0.0.0

Browser/OS: Chrome 134 on Windows

View result in a separate tab

Test name	Executions per second
map lookup	204210800.0 Ops/sec
switch case	183550432.0 Ops/sec
if/else	209058560.0 Ops/sec

Autogenerated LLM Summary (model llama3.2:3b, generated 6 months ago):

LLMs can make mistakes. Check important info.

Let's dive into the benchmark definition and test cases.

**Benchmark Definition**

The benchmark tests three approaches: `map` lookup, `switch case`, and `if/else`. The script preparation code defines:

* A `Map` data structure called `map` with six key-value pairs.
* Two functions:
	+ `switchCase`: takes an integer value as input and returns a string based on the value using a `switch` statement.
	+ `ifElse`: takes an integer value as input and returns a string based on the value using multiple `if-else` statements.

The benchmark definition is written in JavaScript, which is the language used to execute the test cases.

**Options Compared**

The three approaches are compared in terms of their performance. Specifically, the benchmark measures:

* The number of executions per second (in "ExecutionsPerSecond") for each approach.
* The browser and device platform information (in "Browser" and "DevicePlatform", respectively) to understand the test environment.

**Pros and Cons**

Here's a brief summary of the pros and cons of each approach:

* `map` lookup:
	+ Pros: Efficient, fast, and concise way to perform lookups in a data structure.
	+ Cons: May not be suitable for complex or dynamic lookups, as it relies on key existence checks.
* `switch case`:
	+ Pros: Easy to read and maintain, especially for simple cases. Can be more efficient than `if-else` chains for certain use cases.
	+ Cons: Limited to exact match logic; can become cumbersome for complex or dynamic logic.
* `if-else` chain:
	+ Pros: Flexible and versatile, suitable for most use cases. Easy to add new conditions.
	+ Cons: Can be slower than `map` lookup or `switch case`, especially for large numbers of conditions.

**Library and Syntax**

The test cases do not require any external libraries beyond JavaScript itself. The syntax used is standard JavaScript.

**Special JS Features**

None mentioned in the provided benchmark definition.

**Alternatives**

For comparison purposes, other approaches to achieve similar results could include:

* `for` loop with indexing: Instead of using a `map`, you could use an array and iterate through its indices.
* Regular expressions (regex): If the data structure is more complex or dynamic, regex might be used to match patterns against input values.
* Object-based lookup: Using objects instead of maps for key-value pairs.

Keep in mind that these alternatives would likely have different performance characteristics compared to the original `map`-based approach.

Related benchmarks:

map vs if/else vs switch (version: 0)

Comparing performance of: map lookup vs switch case vs if/else

Created: 3 years ago by: Guest

Jump to the latest result

map lookup

switch case

if/else

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Experimental features:

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

Autogenerated LLM Summary (model llama3.2:3b, generated 6 months ago):