Benchmark: Math.max.apply() vs Array.reduce()

Script Preparation code:

var values = new Array(5000);

for (let i = 0; i < values.length; ++i) {
    values[i] = i % 20;
}

Tests:

Math.max
return Math.max.apply(Math, values);
Reduce
return values.reduce((prev, curr) => { if (curr > prev) return curr; return prev; }, 0);

Rendered benchmark preparation results:

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Previous results

Test case name	Result
Math.max
Reduce

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

Latest run results:

Run details: (Test run date: 2 years ago)

User agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/122.0.0.0 Safari/537.36

Browser/OS: Chrome 122 on Mac OS X 10.15.7

View result in a separate tab

Test name	Executions per second
Math.max	62759.8 Ops/sec
Reduce	224790.8 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 benchmark and its results.

**Benchmark Definition**

The benchmark compares the performance of two JavaScript functions: `Math.max.apply()` and `Array.reduce()`. The script preparation code generates an array of 5,000 numbers between 0 and 19 (inclusive), which will be used to test these functions. The `Html Preparation Code` is empty, indicating that no additional HTML setup is needed for this benchmark.

**Options Compared**

The two options being compared are:

1. **Math.max.apply()**: This function applies the `Math.max()` function to an array of values using the `apply()` method. It's a more traditional way of finding the maximum value in an array.
2. **Array.reduce()**: This function reduces the array by repeatedly applying a callback function, which finds the maximum value.

**Pros and Cons**

Here are some pros and cons of each approach:

* **Math.max.apply()**:
	+ Pros: Simpler to understand and implement, as it's based on a well-known function.
	+ Cons: May be slower than `Array.reduce()` because of the overhead of using `apply()`.
* **Array.reduce()**:
	+ Pros: More efficient in terms of memory usage and potentially faster execution time due to its optimized implementation.
	+ Cons: Requires understanding of the `reduce()` method, which can be less intuitive for some developers.

**Library and Purpose**

The `Math.max()` function is a built-in JavaScript function that returns the largest value among a set of numbers. The `Array.prototype.reduce()` method is another built-in function that reduces an array by applying a callback function to each element.

**Special JS Feature or Syntax**

There are no special features or syntax mentioned in this benchmark. Both functions rely on basic JavaScript concepts and do not use any advanced features like ES6 syntax, async/await, or web worker APIs.

**Other Alternatives**

If you're interested in exploring alternative approaches for finding the maximum value in an array, here are a few options:

* **For...of loop**: You can use a `for...of` loop to iterate over the array and keep track of the maximum value. This approach is similar to `Array.reduce()` but may be slower due to the additional overhead.
* **`Math.max()` with multiple arguments**: If you know that the array contains only positive numbers, you can use `Math.max()` with multiple arguments to find the maximum value in a more concise way.

Example:
```javascript
const maxValue = Math.max(...values);
```
Keep in mind that this approach assumes that all elements in the array are positive numbers.

Related benchmarks:

Math.max.apply() vs Array.reduce() (version: 0)

Compare speed of Math.max() vs Array.reduce().

Comparing performance of: Math.max vs Reduce

Created: 3 years ago by: Guest

Jump to the latest result

Math.max

Reduce

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

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