Benchmark: jQuery versions through 4.00b2

HTML Preparation code:

<script src='https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.7.1/jquery.min.js'></script>
<script>
  var $jq171 = $.noConflict(true);
</script>
<script src='https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.11.3/jquery.min.js'></script>
<script>
  var $jq1113 = $.noConflict(true);
</script>
<script src='https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.12.4/jquery.min.js'></script>
<script>
  var $jq1124 = $.noConflict(true);
</script>
<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.2.4/jquery.min.js"></script>
<script>
  var $jq224 = $.noConflict(true);
</script>
<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.3.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<script>
  var $jq331 = $.noConflict(true);
</script>
<script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.4.1.min.js"></script>
<script>
  var $jq341 = $.noConflict(true);
</script>
<script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.6.0.min.js"></script>
<script>
  var $jq360 = $.noConflict(true);
</script>
<script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.7.1.min.js"></script>
<script>
  var $jq371 = $.noConflict(true);
</script>

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/4.0.0-beta.2/jquery.min.js"></script>
<script>
  var $jq400b2 = $.noConflict(true);
</script>

<div>
  <ul id="menu">
    <li class="menu-item">1</li>
    <li class="menu-item">2</li>
    <li class="menu-item">3</li>
    <li class="menu-item">4</li>  
  </ul>
</div>

Script Preparation code:

function tests($) {
    $(".menu-item").eq(2).closest("ul").css({
        "background-color": "red"
    }).parent().css({
        "border": "1px solid blue"
    }).append($("<p></p>").text("Text.").css({
        "background-color": "green"
    })).end().end().remove();
    console.log('tests' + $);
}

Tests:

Test jQuery 1.7.1
tests($jq171);
Test jQuery 2.2.4
tests($jq224);
Test jQuery 3.3.1
tests($jq331);
Test jQuery 3.4.1
tests($jq341);
Test jQuery 3.6.0
tests($jq360);
Test jQuery 3.7.1
tests($jq371);
Test jQuery 4.0.0 beta 2
tests($jq400b2);

Rendered benchmark preparation results:

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Previous results

Test case name	Result
Test jQuery 1.7.1
Test jQuery 2.2.4
Test jQuery 3.3.1
Test jQuery 3.4.1
Test jQuery 3.6.0
Test jQuery 3.7.1
Test jQuery 4.0.0 beta 2

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

Latest run results:

Run details: (Test run date: 3 months ago)

User agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/131.0.0.0 Safari/537.36 Edg/131.0.0.0

Browser/OS: Chrome 131 on Windows

View result in a separate tab

Test name	Executions per second
Test jQuery 1.7.1	45639.2 Ops/sec
Test jQuery 2.2.4	63200.5 Ops/sec
Test jQuery 3.3.1	62957.4 Ops/sec
Test jQuery 3.4.1	58892.3 Ops/sec
Test jQuery 3.6.0	56584.0 Ops/sec
Test jQuery 3.7.1	56045.0 Ops/sec
Test jQuery 4.0.0 beta 2	57485.3 Ops/sec

Autogenerated LLM Summary (model gpt-4o-mini, generated 3 months ago):

LLMs can make mistakes. Check important info.

### Benchmark Overview

The benchmark provided tests the performance of various versions of jQuery (from 1.7.1 to 4.0.0 beta 2) by measuring the rate of executions per second of a specific jQuery-based script. The script manipulates a menu structure within the HTML DOM, focusing on various methods available in jQuery to apply CSS styles and manipulate the DOM.

### Testing Options

The benchmark compares the following jQuery versions:
1. jQuery 1.7.1
2. jQuery 2.2.4
3. jQuery 3.3.1
4. jQuery 3.4.1
5. jQuery 3.6.0
6. jQuery 3.7.1
7. jQuery 4.0.0 beta 2

### Pros and Cons of Different Versions

**Pros of Newer Versions:**
- **Performance Improvements:** Often, newer versions provide optimizations that enhance execution speed and reduce memory consumption.
- **Feature Enhancements:** New versions introduced new features, such as improved support for newer JavaScript standards, additional methods, and better integration with modern development practices.
- **Bug Fixes and Security Updates:** Newer versions address known bugs and vulnerabilities, ensuring developers use a safer, more reliable library.

**Cons of Newer Versions:**
- **Backward Compatibility Issues:** Some features might have been deprecated or modified in newer versions, which can affect existing codebases that rely on older behaviors.
- **Learning Curve:** New features or changes in library usage may require developers to learn new practices or patterns.

**Pros of Older Versions:**
- **Stability:** Older versions, like 1.7.1, may be stable and familiar for legacy projects that have not transitioned to newer versions yet.
- **Compatibility:** Older versions might work more seamlessly with plugins and extensions that haven’t been updated for the latest jQuery releases.

**Cons of Older Versions:**
- **Lack of Support and Updates:** Older versions are typically not maintained, meaning no patches, bug fixes, or improvements will be made.
- **Performance Limitations:** They may not include optimizations or features available in newer versions, potentially resulting in slower execution times.

### Library Functionality

The benchmark utilizes **jQuery**, a widely-used JavaScript library designed to simplify DOM manipulation, event handling, and AJAX interactions. The library abstracts many complexities of JavaScript, allowing developers to write less code to achieve the same results when interacting with the webpage's structure.

### Test Code Explanation

The specific script being tested consists of a chain of jQuery methods that manipulate the DOM. Here's a simplified breakdown of what the `tests($)` function does:

- **Selects a menu item:** It selects the third menu item in the list (`$(".menu-item").eq(2)`).
- **Finds the closest parent `<ul>`:** It navigates up the DOM to find the closest `<ul>` element.
- **Applies styles:** CSS properties (background color and border) are applied to demonstrate DOM manipulation.
- **Adds new content:** A `<p>` element is created and appended to the parent structure.
- **Chaining:** The `end()` method is used to revert the selection to the previous set of matched elements, eventually leading to their removal.

This code effectively tests the performance of various jQuery versions by measuring how quickly the operations can be executed.

### Alternatives to jQuery

While jQuery has been a staple of web development, a few alternatives have arisen, especially with the advancements in vanilla JavaScript and modern frameworks:

- **Vanilla JavaScript (ES6+):** With the introduction of new features like `querySelector`, `classList`, and template literals, many DOM operations can be accomplished without jQuery. This approach avoids added dependencies and often results in better performance.
  
- **React and other frameworks (e.g., Vue, Angular):** These libraries implement a component-based architecture that can simplify complex UI logic while facilitating a reactive data model. They can minimize the need for direct DOM manipulation typically performed by jQuery.

- **Lodash or Underscore:** While primarily utility libraries, they provide functions for data manipulation that can complement JavaScript without needing a library like jQuery for DOM tasks.

### Conclusion

The benchmark tests the runtime performance of various jQuery versions through executing a particular JavaScript function for DOM manipulation. Choosing the right version involves evaluating the trade-offs, such as performance benefits, feature support, and the applicability to existing codebases. As the web ecosystem evolves, it's also important for developers to consider modern alternatives that might serve their needs better than traditional libraries like jQuery.

Related benchmarks:

jQuery versions through 4.00b2 (version: 1)

benchmark different versions of jquery

Comparing performance of: Test jQuery 1.7.1 vs Test jQuery 2.2.4 vs Test jQuery 3.3.1 vs Test jQuery 3.4.1 vs Test jQuery 3.6.0 vs Test jQuery 3.7.1 vs Test jQuery 4.0.0 beta 2

Created: 3 months ago by: Guest

Jump to the latest result

Test jQuery 1.7.1

Test jQuery 2.2.4

Test jQuery 3.3.1

Test jQuery 3.4.1

Test jQuery 3.6.0

Test jQuery 3.7.1

Test jQuery 4.0.0 beta 2

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Experimental features:

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

Autogenerated LLM Summary (model gpt-4o-mini, generated 3 months ago):