Benchmark: If statements vs zero multiplication and assignment

If statements vs zero multiplication and assignment (version: 0)

Is it faster to check if a numeric calculation needs to be performed and assigned to an object property, or just do the calculation against zero and assign it anyway.

Comparing performance of: If Statement - True vs If Statement - False vs Calculate - Positive vs Calculate - Zero

Created: 8 years ago by: Guest

Jump to the latest result

Script Preparation code:

var DO_MATHS_TRUE = true,
    DO_MATHS_FALSE = false,
    DELTA = 12345,
    OBJ_SRC = {x: 12},
    OBJ_SRC_ZERO = {x: 0},
    OBJ_DEST = {x: 0};

Tests:

If Statement - True
if(DO_MATHS_TRUE){ OBJ_DEST.x += (OBJ_SRC.x * DELTA) }
If Statement - False
if(DO_MATHS_FALSE){ OBJ_DEST.x += (OBJ_SRC.x * DELTA) }
Calculate - Positive
OBJ_DEST.x += (OBJ_SRC.x * DELTA)
Calculate - Zero
OBJ_DEST.x += (OBJ_SRC_ZERO.x * DELTA)

Rendered benchmark preparation results:

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Previous results

Test case name	Result
If Statement - True
If Statement - False
Calculate - Positive
Calculate - Zero

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

Latest run results:

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

User agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:130.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/130.0

Browser/OS: Firefox 130 on Linux

View result in a separate tab

Test name	Executions per second
If Statement - True	230921392.0 Ops/sec
If Statement - False	546042496.0 Ops/sec
Calculate - Positive	262291968.0 Ops/sec
Calculate - Zero	239104240.0 Ops/sec

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

LLMs can make mistakes. Check important info.

I'll break down the provided benchmark and explain what's being tested, compared, and their pros and cons.

**Benchmark Definition**

The benchmark is defined by two approaches:

1. **If statements**: This approach checks if the calculation needs to be performed using an `if` statement and assigns it to an object property.
2. **Zero multiplication and assignment**: This approach performs the calculation directly without checking, and still assigns the result to the object property.

**Pros and Cons**

* **If statements**:
	+ Pros: Explicitly checks if calculation is needed, which might be necessary in certain scenarios (e.g., debugging).
	+ Cons: Can lead to unnecessary computations if the condition is always true.
* **Zero multiplication and assignment**:
	+ Pros: Eliminates the need for an `if` statement, potentially reducing computation overhead.
	+ Cons: May not be suitable for all scenarios where explicit checking is necessary.

**Library/Functionality**

There doesn't seem to be any external library or function being used in this benchmark. The code only uses built-in JavaScript features.

**Special JS Feature/Syntax**

None of the provided benchmark cases use any special JavaScript features or syntax beyond what's commonly used in everyday programming (e.g., object literals, loops).

**Other Alternatives**

If you want to test other approaches, here are a few ideas:

* Use `ternary operators` instead of `if` statements: `OBJ_DEST.x += (OBJ_SRC.x * DELTA) ? (OBJ Src.x * DELTA) : 0;`
* Compare with an empty object assignment: `OBJ_DEST = {x: OBJ_SRC.x * DELTA};`
* Test using a different multiplication operator, such as the bitwise NOT operator (`~`): `OBJ_DEST.x += ~(OBJ Src.x * DELTA);`

Keep in mind that these alternatives might not be relevant to the specific use case being tested and may introduce additional overhead or complexity.

**Benchmark Preparation Code**

The provided script preparation code defines several variables:

* `DO_MATHS_TRUE` and `DO_MATHS_FALSE`: Boolean flags indicating whether calculations should be performed.
* `DELTA`: A constant value used in the calculations.
* `OBJ_SRC` and `OBJ_SRC_ZERO`: Object literals containing numeric data.
* `OBJ_DEST`: An object that will receive the calculated value.

The HTML preparation code is empty, suggesting that no HTML-specific elements or attributes are being tested.

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