Benchmark: Lodash uniqWith vs Set

HTML Preparation code:

<script src='https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/lodash.js/4.17.21/lodash.min.js'></script>

Script Preparation code:

var array = Array.from(new Array(120), () => Math.floor(Math.random() * 40))
var copy = null

Tests:

Lodash uniqWith
copy = _.uniqWith(array, _.isEqual)
Set
copy = [...new Set(array)]

Rendered benchmark preparation results:

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Previous results

Test case name	Result
Lodash uniqWith
Set

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
Lodash uniqWith	146685.6 Ops/sec
Set	547243.2 Ops/sec

Autogenerated LLM Summary (model gpt-4o-mini, generated one year ago):

LLMs can make mistakes. Check important info.

The benchmark defined compares two different ways of obtaining unique elements from an array in JavaScript: using the Lodash library's `uniqWith` function and the native `Set` object.

### Options Compared

1. **Lodash `uniqWith` Function**
   - **Code**: `copy = _.uniqWith(array, _.isEqual)`
   - **Description**: This test case utilizes the Lodash library to remove duplicate entries from an array. The `uniqWith` method creates a new array by calling the provided comparison function (`_.isEqual` in this case) for each element, allowing for more complex equality checks than simply checking for reference equality.
   - **Pros**: 
     - Powerful: Handles deep equality checks (e.g., nested objects).
     - Easy to use: Provides a straightforward API for developers familiar with Lodash.
   - **Cons**: 
     - Performance: May be slower than native methods for simple equality checks, especially since it performs additional function calls for each comparison.
     - Dependency: Requires including the Lodash library, which can be significant in terms of payload size if not already in use in the project.

2. **JavaScript `Set` Object**
   - **Code**: `copy = [...new Set(array)]`
   - **Description**: This approach uses the native `Set` object, which only allows unique values. By spreading the `Set` back into an array, it effectively filters out duplicates.
   - **Pros**: 
     - Performance: Generally faster for simple data types (numbers, strings) due to the underlying implementation of `Set`.
     - Built-in: No external dependencies, making it more lightweight and efficient if no other Lodash features are required.
   - **Cons**: 
     - Limited to shallow equality: Cannot handle complexities of deep equality checks (e.g., two different object instances with the same properties would be considered different).
     - Newer JavaScript feature: While widely supported now, older browsers may not support `Set`.

### Other Considerations

- **Readability vs. Performance**: While the Lodash approach may be more readable for developers familiar with functional programming paradigms, performance-wise, the native `Set` could be much more efficient for large arrays where deep equality is not required.
- **Array Data Types**: The type of data in the array can significantly affect the performance of both methods. The `Set` performs better with primitive types due to its native handling of uniqueness compared to function calls in Lodash.
- **Library Use**: If a team is already using Lodash for other purposes, using `uniqWith` might be justifiable despite the extra overhead. For a project without Lodash, the native `Set` method is preferred for its simplicity and reliability.

### Alternatives

- **Array.prototype.filter**: You can manually filter duplicates by iterating and checking for existence, though this is less performant than the above methods for large arrays.
- **Object key-value pairs**: Another alternative involves using an object to track seen values, which can be equally performant and supports primitive values only.
- **Map for complex objects**: For deep comparisons, one could utilize a `Map` to maintain indices on object representations if needing to extend beyond just `Set` or Lodash.

In summary, this benchmark provides insight into balancing complexity against performance and dependency management in JavaScript for handling arrays needing uniqueness.

Related benchmarks:

Lodash uniqWith vs Set (version: 1)

Comparing performance of: Lodash uniqWith vs Set

Created: one year ago by: Guest

Jump to the latest result

Lodash uniqWith

Set

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

Autogenerated LLM Summary (model gpt-4o-mini, generated one year ago):