Benchmark: Array.sort vs Math.max

Script Preparation code:

var v1 = 12345678.12345;
var v2 = 23456789.01234;

var arr = [v2, v1]

Tests:

Array.sort
var a = arr.sort(); var max = a[1];
Math max
var max = Math.max(v2, v1);

Rendered benchmark preparation results:

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Previous results

Test case name	Result
Array.sort
Math max

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

Latest run results:

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

User agent: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 17_2_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/605.1.15 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/17.2 Mobile/15E148 Safari/604.1

Browser/OS: Mobile Safari 17 on iOS 17.2.1

View result in a separate tab

Test name	Executions per second
Array.sort	7241832.0 Ops/sec
Math max	5225537.0 Ops/sec

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

LLMs can make mistakes. Check important info.

Let's break down the provided JSON benchmark definition and explain what is being tested, compared, and the pros/cons of each approach.

**What is being tested?**

The test compares two approaches to find the maximum value in an array:

1. `Array.sort()`: This method sorts the array in ascending order and returns a new sorted array. The maximum value can be found by accessing the last element of the sorted array (`arr[1]`).
2. `Math.max(v2, v1)`: This function takes two arguments and returns the largest of the two.

**Options compared**

The test compares these two approaches:

* **Array.sort()**: This method is a built-in JavaScript function that sorts an array in-place.
* **Math.max()**: This function is a built-in JavaScript function that finds the maximum value among its arguments.

**Pros and cons of each approach**

* **Array.sort()**:
	+ Pros: Can be used for sorting arrays, but it has a time complexity of O(n log n), which can be slow for large datasets.
	+ Cons: Sorts the entire array, which may not be necessary if only finding the maximum value is required. Also, returns a new sorted array, which may consume more memory than needed.
* **Math.max()**:
	+ Pros: Fast and efficient way to find the maximum value among two numbers. Does not require sorting an entire array.
	+ Cons: Only finds the maximum value between two specified values. Not suitable for finding the maximum value in a large array.

**Library usage**

In this benchmark, none of the libraries are explicitly mentioned. However, if we were to analyze the provided script preparation code, it includes the `var` keyword and basic arithmetic operations (`12345678.12345`, `23456789.01234`). These are part of the standard JavaScript language.

**Special JS feature or syntax**

There is no mention of special JavaScript features or syntax in this benchmark. It only uses built-in functions like `Math.max()` and simple arithmetic operations.

**Other alternatives**

If you wanted to find the maximum value in an array, other approaches could include:

* Using `Array.prototype.reduce()`: This method reduces an array to a single value by applying a callback function to each element.
* Using `Array.prototype.map()`: This method creates a new array with transformed elements. You could use it along with `Math.max()` or another comparison function to find the maximum value.
* Writing a custom loop that iterates through the array and keeps track of the maximum value found.

Keep in mind that these alternatives may have different performance characteristics compared to using built-in functions like `Array.sort()` or `Math.max()`.

Related benchmarks:

Array.sort vs Math.max (version: 0)

Comparing performance of: Array.sort vs Math max

Created: 3 years ago by: Guest

Jump to the latest result

Array.sort

Math max

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

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