Benchmark: lodash isNil vs !!aa

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
_.isNil(a); _.isNil(b); _.isNil(c); _.isNil(d); _.isNil(e); _.isNil(f);
native isNil
_.isNumber(a); _.isNumber(b); _.isNumber(c); _.isNumber(d); _.isNumber(e); _.isNumber(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: one year ago)

User agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/130.0.0.0 Safari/537.36

Browser/OS: Chrome 130 on Windows

View result in a separate tab

Test name	Executions per second
lodash isNil	39145020.0 Ops/sec
native isNil	32139908.0 Ops/sec

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

LLMs can make mistakes. Check important info.

The benchmark defined in the provided JSON focuses on comparing the performance of two different approaches for checking if a value is "nil" (null or undefined), using the Lodash library's method `_.isNil()` and the native JavaScript approach using implicit coercion with the logical NOT operator (`!!`).

### Benchmark Overview

#### Script Preparation
The setup creates six variables:
- `a`: null
- `b`: undefined
- `c`: NaN (Not a Number)
- `d`: false (falsy value)
- `e`: 'a' (truthy value)
- `f`: 0 (falsy value)

This sets a stage for testing how each method treats different values, specifically the 'nil' condition — for this purpose, only null and undefined are considered 'nil'.

#### Benchmark Cases

1. **Lodash `_.isNil`**:
   - **Test Name**: "lodash isNil"
   - **Test Definition**: `_.isNil(a);`, `_.isNil(b);`, `_.isNil(c);`, `_.isNil(d);`, `_.isNil(e);`, `_.isNil(f);`
   - **Purpose**: This calls the `isNil` method from Lodash to check each variable.

2. **Native JavaScript Logic**:
   - **Test Name**: "native isNil"
   - **Test Definition**: `_.isNumber(a);`, `_.isNumber(b);`, `_.isNumber(c);`, `_.isNumber(d);`, `_.isNumber(e);`, `_.isNumber(f);`
   - **Purpose**: This test appears to be mistakenly listed as "native isNil," but the actual check is for whether the values are numbers using the `_.isNumber()` method. The correct alternative for isNil check would typically be a simpler comparison like `a == null`, which checks both null and undefined.

### Performance Results

The benchmark results indicate:
- **Lodash `isNil` Executions Per Second**: 39,145,020 
- **Native Check Executions Per Second**: 32,139,908

The results show that Lodash's `isNil` checks are running faster than the native approach included (`_.isNumber()`).

### Considerations

#### Pros and Cons

1. **Lodash `_.isNil`**:
   - **Pros**: 
     - Readability: Using Lodash makes the intention clear and unambiguous.
     - Consistency: Having a utility function can yield consistent results across various parts of a codebase.
   - **Cons**: 
     - Dependency: Requires inclusion of the Lodash library, which adds overhead.
     - Overhead: There may be slight performance costs associated with function calls in libraries like Lodash.

2. **Native JavaScript**:
   - **Pros**:
     - No external dependencies or libraries needed, thus minimal setup and possibly faster execution due to direct language support.
     - Lower overhead in terms of function calls.
   - **Cons**:
     - Potentially less readable or more error-prone if not implemented clearly.

### Alternatives to Consider

- **Using Logical Coercion**: A simple check like `a == null` will suffice to check for both null and undefined.
- **Direct Comparisons**: Explicit checks with `===` like `a === null || a === undefined`.
- **TypeScript or modern JavaScript**: If type safety is a concern, using TypeScript can provide compile-time checks and safety against such values.

In conclusion, while Lodash provides a convenient and clear method for checking for "nil" values, native methods can be sufficient and potentially faster. The best choice depends on the specific needs for readability, performance, and code consistency in the application being developed.

Related benchmarks:

lodash isNil vs !!aa (version: 1)

Comparing performance of: lodash isNil vs native isNil

Created: one year ago by: Guest

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 gpt-4o-mini, generated one year ago):