Benchmark: Math.max with apply vs spread

Script Preparation code:

var arr = []
for (i = 0; i < 1000; i++) {
  arr.push(Math.random() * i)
}

Tests:

Max with apply
Math.max.apply(Math, arr)
Max with spread operator
Math.max(...arr)

Historical Performance Data aggregated from 25 community runs

Desktop Results:

Chrome 25 runs

Max with apply

6.5M/s

Max with spread operator

287K/s

Fastest: Max with apply (22.5x faster)

View exact numbers

✓ Max with apply: 6,473,030 ops/sec
• Max with spread operator: 287,314 ops/sec

Results show median performance across all community submissions. Run this benchmark yourself to verify on your device.

Rendered benchmark preparation results:

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Previous results

Test case name	Result
Max with apply
Max with spread operator

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

Latest run results:

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

User agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/137.0.0.0 Safari/537.36

Browser/OS: Chrome 137 on Mac OS X 10.15.7

View result in a separate tab

Max with apply

146.3M/s

Max with spread operator

51K/s

View exact numbers

Test name	Executions per second
✓ Max with apply	146,315,968 Ops/sec
Max with spread operator	51,231 Ops/sec

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

LLMs can make mistakes. Check important info.

Let's break down what's being tested in this benchmark.

**What's being compared?**

The test is comparing two approaches for finding the maximum value in an array: `Math.max.apply()` and the new ES6 spread operator (`...`).

**Options being compared:**

1. **`Math.max.apply(Math, arr)`**: This method uses the `apply()` function to call `Math.max` with the `arr` array as its first argument and `Math` as its second argument (the context). The result is passed back through the callback function.
2. **`Math.max(...arr)`**: This approach uses the spread operator (`...`) to pass the entire array to `Math.max`.

**Pros and cons of each approach:**

1. **`Math.max.apply(Math, arr)`**:
	* Pros:
		+ Works in older browsers that don't support the spread operator.
		+ Can be useful for legacy code or compatibility reasons.
	* Cons:
		+ Has a slightly higher overhead due to the `apply()` function call.
2. **`Math.max(...arr)`**:
	* Pros:
		+ More concise and readable than the `apply()` version.
		+ Optimized by modern browsers for performance.
	* Cons:
		+ May not work in older browsers that don't support the spread operator.

**Library usage:**

None of these benchmarks use a library.

**Special JS feature/syntax:**

The benchmark uses the ES6 spread operator (`...`). While this is a standard feature in modern JavaScript, it's still possible to encounter older browsers or environments that may not support it. MeasureThat.net takes care to test both approaches for compatibility.

**Other alternatives:**

Before `Math.max.apply()`, developers used various other methods to find the maximum value in an array, such as:

1. **`Math.max()` with multiple arguments**: This approach involves passing all elements of the array as separate arguments to `Math.max`. For example: `Math.max(...arr)`.
2. **Custom loops**: Before the spread operator was introduced, developers would use custom loops to find the maximum value in an array.

However, these alternatives are less efficient and more verbose than using `Math.max()` with either the spread operator or `apply()`.

Math.max with apply vs spread (version: 0)

Compare the new ES6 spread operator with the Math.max.apply method

Comparing performance of: `Max with apply vs Max with spread operator`

Created: 8 years ago by: Guest

Go to the latest result

Max with apply

Max with spread operator

Historical Performance Data aggregated from 25 community runs

Desktop Results:

Chrome 25 runs

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

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

Math.max with apply vs spread (version: 0)

Compare the new ES6 spread operator with the Math.max.apply method

Comparing performance of: Max with apply vs Max with spread operator

Created: 8 years ago by: Guest

Go to the latest result

Max with apply

Max with spread operator

Historical Performance Data aggregated from 25 community runs

Desktop Results:

Chrome 25 runs

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

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

Related benchmarks

Comparing performance of: `Max with apply vs Max with spread operator`