Benchmark: Canvas gradient perf

HTML Preparation code:

<canvas id="canvas1" width="512" height="512"></canvas>

<style>
 canvas { border: 1px solid black; }
</style>

<script>
var canvas = document.getElementById('canvas1');
var ctx = canvas.getContext('2d');

var grad = ctx.createLinearGradient(0, 0, 4, 256);
grad.addColorStop(0, 'red');
grad.addColorStop(0.5, 'rgba(0,0,255,0.5)');
grad.addColorStop(1, 'lime');

</script>

Tests:

Create
for (var i = 0; i < 10; i++) { var grad2 = ctx.createLinearGradient(0, 0, 4, 256); grad2.addColorStop(0, 'red'); grad2.addColorStop(0.5, 'rgba(0,0,255,0.5)'); grad2.addColorStop(1, 'lime'); ctx.fillStyle = grad2; ctx.fillRect(0,0,512,512); }
reuse
for (var i = 0; i < 10; i++) { ctx.fillStyle = grad; ctx.fillRect(0,0,512,512); }
fill only
ctx.fillStyle = grad; for (var i = 0; i < 10; i++) { ctx.fillRect(0,0,512,512); }

Rendered benchmark preparation results:

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Previous results

Test case name	Result
Create
reuse
fill only

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

Latest run results:

No previous run results

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Autogenerated LLM Summary (model llama3.1:latest, generated one year ago):

LLMs can make mistakes. Check important info.

Let's break down the benchmark definition and test cases.

**Benchmark Definition**

The benchmark is called "Canvas gradient perf" (performance). It involves creating a linear gradient on a canvas element using the `createLinearGradient` method of the 2D drawing context (`ctx`). The gradient has three color stops: red at the start, a semi-transparent blue in the middle, and lime at the end.

**Test Cases**

There are three test cases:

1. **Create**: This test creates a new linear gradient on each iteration of the loop (10 times). On each iteration, it creates a new gradient using `ctx.createLinearGradient(0, 0, 4, 256)`, adds color stops to it, and then uses this gradient to fill a rectangle (`ctx.fillRect(0,0,512,512)`).
2. **Reuse**: This test reuses the same linear gradient created in the first test case (using `grad` variable). On each iteration of the loop, it simply assigns the reused gradient to `ctx.fillStyle` and uses this gradient to fill a rectangle.
3. **Fill only**: This test is similar to "Reuse", but it assigns the reused gradient to `ctx.fillStyle` before entering the loop. This means that the gradient is created once (before the loop) and reused throughout the test.

**Latest Benchmark Result**

The latest benchmark result shows the performance of each test case on a Chrome 99 browser running on a desktop Mac OS X 10.15.7 system. The results are in executions per second (EPS).

**Analysis**

Here's what we can infer from these tests:

* Creating a new linear gradient on each iteration is expensive (`Create` test).
* Reusing the same gradient throughout the test is significantly faster than creating a new one (`Reuse` and `Fill only` tests).
* Assigning the reused gradient to `ctx.fillStyle` before entering the loop (as in `Fill only`) doesn't provide any additional performance benefits compared to reusing it within the loop (as in `Reuse`).

**Library and Special JS Feature**

No special JavaScript features or libraries are used in these tests. The canvas element is a standard HTML feature, and the 2D drawing context (`ctx`) is used directly without any third-party library.

**Other Considerations and Alternatives**

Some potential considerations:

* Cache invalidation: if the gradient is recreated on each iteration, the cache might be invalidated, leading to performance degradation.
* Gradient complexity: if more complex gradients are involved (e.g., radial or conic), the performance difference between creating a new one vs. reusing it might change.

Alternative approaches could include:

* Using a caching mechanism to store the created gradient and reuse it throughout the test.
* Pre-creating multiple gradients with different properties and switching between them as needed.
* Exploring other rendering options, such as using WebGL or a dedicated graphics library.

Related benchmarks:

Canvas gradient perf (version: 0)

Comparing performance of: Create vs reuse vs fill only

Created: 8 years ago by: Guest

Jump to the latest result

Create

reuse

fill only

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

No previous run results

Autogenerated LLM Summary (model llama3.1:latest, generated one year ago):