Benchmark: lodash isNil vs native isNil with if

HTML Preparation code:

<script src='https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/lodash.js/4.17.5/lodash.min.js'></script>

Script Preparation code:

var a = null;
var b = undefined;
var c = NaN;
var d = false;
var e = 'a';
var f = 0;

Tests:

lodash isNil
if (_.isNil(a)) {} if (_.isNil(b)) {} if (_.isNil(c)) {} if (_.isNil(d)) {} if (_.isNil(e)) {} if (_.isNil(f)) {}
native isNil
if (a) {} if (b) {} if (c) {} if (d) {} if (e) {} if (f) {}

Rendered benchmark preparation results:

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Previous results

Test case name	Result
lodash isNil
native isNil

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

Latest run results:

Run details: (Test run date: 10 months ago)

User agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/137.0.0.0 Safari/537.36

Browser/OS: Chrome 137 on Windows

View result in a separate tab

Test name	Executions per second
lodash isNil	103273960.0 Ops/sec
native isNil	135231504.0 Ops/sec

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

LLMs can make mistakes. Check important info.

Let's dive into the explanation.

**Benchmark Purpose:**
The benchmark measures the performance difference between using Lodash's `isNil` function and JavaScript's native `NaN` (Not a Number) check for null and undefined values in an array of variables (`a`, `b`, `c`, `d`, `e`, `f`) with different data types.

**Options Compared:**

1. **Lodash's `isNil`**: This function checks if a value is null, undefined, or NaN.
	* Pros:
		+ More explicit and readable code for handling null and undefined values.
		+ Lodash is a widely-used utility library with many features.
	* Cons:
		+ Slightly slower due to the overhead of calling a function.
2. **Native `NaN` check**: This method checks if a value is NaN, which can also be used to represent null or undefined in some cases.
	* Pros:
		+ Faster execution since it only checks for NaN and doesn't need to explicitly handle null and undefined values.
	* Cons:
		+ Less readable code due to the need to understand the nuances of NaN in JavaScript.

**Other Considerations:**

1. **NaN Handling**: Both methods have their own ways of handling NaN values, which can be a consideration depending on the specific use case.
2. **Lodash's Dependencies**: Using Lodash adds an external dependency to the test, which might affect the execution speed and cache performance in some environments.
3. **Native Implementation**: The native `NaN` check may not cover all edge cases or corner scenarios like handling NaN with NaN (NaN !== NaN), but it is generally faster and more efficient.

**Library:**
The Lodash library provides a set of functional programming helpers, including the `isNil` function, which checks if a value is null, undefined, or NaN. The library also includes other useful functions for array manipulation, string processing, and more.

**JavaScript Features/Syntax:**

There are no special JavaScript features or syntaxes used in this benchmark that require explanation beyond the use of NaN to represent null or undefined values.

**Alternatives:**
Other alternatives for handling null and undefined values could include:

1. **Using Optional Chaining (`?.`)**: Introduced in ECMAScript 2020, optional chaining allows you to access nested properties without throwing an error if the value is null or undefined.
2. **Using `??` Null Coalescing Operator**: This operator returns its right-hand operand if it's not null or undefined; otherwise, it returns the left-hand operand.
3. **Checking for Specific Types**: In some cases, checking for specific types like Number, String, or Object can provide a more robust and efficient way to handle null and undefined values.

Keep in mind that these alternatives might introduce additional overhead depending on the specific use case and performance requirements.

Related benchmarks:

lodash isNil vs native isNil with if (version: 0)

Comparing performance of: lodash isNil vs native isNil

Created: 3 years ago by: Registered User

Jump to the latest result

lodash isNil

native isNil

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

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