Benchmark: Nullish coalescing V.S. Logic or operator (native)

Tests:

Nullish coalescing
let v = null for (let i = 1; i < 1e6; i++) v = v ?? null
Logic or operator
let v = null for (let i = 1; i < 1e6; i++) v = v || null

Rendered benchmark preparation results:

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Previous results

Test case name	Result
Nullish coalescing
Logic or operator

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

Autogenerated LLM Summary (model llama3.2:3b, generated 25 days ago):

LLMs can make mistakes. Check important info.

Let's dive into the world of JavaScript microbenchmarks on MeasureThat.net.

The provided JSON represents two benchmark definitions for testing the performance of nullish coalescing and logic or operator (native) in JavaScript. Both benchmarks involve a loop that performs an operation on a variable `v`, which is initialized to `null`. The operation is different between the two benchmarks: one uses the nullish coalescing operator (`??`) and the other uses the logic or operator (`||`).

**Nullish Coalescing**

The nullish coalescing operator (`??`) is a binary operator that returns its right-hand side operand if the left-hand side operand is `null` or `undefined`, otherwise it returns the left-hand side operand. In this benchmark, the loop iterates 1 million times and assigns the result of `v ?? null` to `v`.

**Logic Or Operator**

The logic or operator (`||`) is a binary operator that returns its right-hand side operand if the left-hand side operand is falsy (including `null`, `undefined`, `0`, etc.), otherwise it returns the left-hand side operand. In this benchmark, the loop iterates 1 million times and assigns the result of `v || null` to `v`.

**Comparison**

Both benchmarks involve a simple loop that performs an operation on a variable initialized to `null`. However, there are differences in how they handle the nullish coalescing operator versus the logic or operator:

*   Nullish Coalescing: This operator is designed to provide a more concise way of handling null or undefined values. It returns the right-hand side operand if the left-hand side operand is `null` or `undefined`, which can be more readable and efficient than using an explicit conditional statement.
*   Logic Or Operator: This operator is designed to provide a logical OR operation between two operands. In this benchmark, it's used with a null value (`null`) as the right-hand side operand. This can lead to unexpected behavior if the intention is not to perform a logical OR operation.

**Pros and Cons**

*   Nullish Coalescing:
    *   Pros: More concise and readable way of handling null or undefined values.
    *   Cons: May not be supported by older browsers or JavaScript engines that don't implement this operator.
*   Logic Or Operator:
    *   Pros: Widely supported by most modern browsers and JavaScript engines.
    *   Cons: Can lead to unexpected behavior if used incorrectly.

**Library and Special JS Features**

There are no libraries mentioned in the provided JSON, but it's worth noting that some libraries (e.g., Lodash) provide implementations of nullish coalescing as a utility function (`_.defaultTo()`, `_.toDefault()`).

The only special JavaScript feature being tested is the use of nullish coalescing and logic or operator. There are no other features mentioned in the provided JSON.

**Other Alternatives**

If you want to test alternative ways of handling null or undefined values, you could consider adding additional benchmark definitions that use different operators or conditional statements (e.g., `&&` , `conditional expression`, etc.).

Here's an example of how you might add an additional benchmark definition:

```
{
    "Name": "Conditional Expression",
    "Description": null,
    "Script Preparation Code": null,
    "Html Preparation Code": null
}

[
    {
        "Benchmark Definition": "let v = null\r\nfor (let i = 1; i < 1e6; i++)\r\n  v = v && null",
        "Test Name": "Conditional Expression"
    }
]
```

This benchmark definition uses a conditional expression (`v && null`) to check if `v` is falsy and assign the result to `v`. The pros and cons of this approach would be similar to those discussed earlier for the logic or operator, but with some additional considerations due to the use of an explicit conditional statement.

Latest run results:

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

User agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10.15; rv:131.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/131.0

Browser/OS: Firefox 131 on Mac OS X 10.15

View result in a separate tab

Test name	Executions per second
Nullish coalescing	3409.9 Ops/sec
Logic or operator	3419.1 Ops/sec

Related benchmarks:

Nullish coalescing V.S. Logic or operator (native) (version: 0)

Comparing performance of: Nullish coalescing vs Logic or operator

Created: 3 years ago by: Guest

Jump to the latest result

Nullish coalescing

Logic or operator

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Experimental features:

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

Autogenerated LLM Summary (model llama3.2:3b, generated 25 days ago):