Overview

MeasureThat.net is a website that allows users to create and run JavaScript microbenchmarks. The provided JSON represents a benchmark definition, which includes the script preparation code, HTML preparation code (which is empty in this case), and an array of individual test cases.

Benchmark Definition

The benchmark definition specifies two types of arrays: regular Array and Float32Array. Both are used to store random integers between 0 and 1 million. The script preparation code initializes these arrays, populates them with random values, and then creates two functions: getRandomInt(max) for generating random integers within a specified range, and two map functions to populate the arrays.

Options Compared

The benchmark compares two approaches:

1. Regular Array (a):
   • Uses the standard JavaScript Array object.
   • Populates with random integers using the map() method.
   • Employs basic operations like sorting and incrementing elements within a loop.
2. Typed Array (ta) (specifically, Float32Array):
   • Utilizes the typed array API, which provides more efficient data storage and access compared to standard arrays.
   • Populates with random floats using the map() method.

Pros and Cons

Here are some pros and cons of each approach:

Regular Array (a):

Pros:

• Wide browser support and compatibility.
• Easy to implement and understand.

Cons:

• May incur performance overhead due to the overhead of JavaScript objects and dynamic typing.
• Can be slower for large-scale data processing compared to typed arrays.

Typed Array (ta) (specifically, Float32Array):

Pros:

• Provides more efficient memory usage and access patterns, leading to better performance in certain operations like sorting.
• Better suited for numerical computations and high-performance applications.

Cons:

• May require additional setup or imports for compatibility across older browsers.
• Can be less intuitive to work with for developers without prior experience with typed arrays.

Individual Test Cases

Each test case measures the execution time of a specific operation on both regular array (a) and typed array (ta):

1. Array Sort: Measures the sorting performance of a.sort().
2. Array I/O (Increment): Measures the incrementing performance within a loop for elements in a.
3. Typed Array I/O (Increment): Measures the incrementing performance within a loop for elements in ta.

These test cases provide insights into the relative performance differences between regular arrays and typed arrays under specific scenarios.

Library Used

None, as this benchmark definition uses only built-in JavaScript features and does not rely on any external libraries.