What is being tested?

The benchmark measures the performance of three different methods to calculate the power of a number:

1. Math.pow (pow): The built-in JavaScript function that raises one number to another.
2. Exponentiation with two asterisks ( ** ): A shorthand operator introduced in ECMAScript 2016, which represents exponentiation.
3. Multiplication for multiplication ( * version 2): In JavaScript, the multiplication operator is often used as a shorthand for repeated multiplication.

Options compared

The benchmark compares the performance of these three methods on the same test case: calculating 6^21. The results are measured in terms of Executions Per Second, which indicates how many times each method can execute within a second.

Pros and Cons of each approach:

1. Math.pow (pow):
   • Pros: Well-established, widely supported, and familiar to most developers.
   • Cons: May incur more overhead due to its built-in nature, potentially slower than optimized alternatives.
2. Exponentiation with two asterisks ( ** ):
   • Pros: Recently introduced standard, which may lead to better optimization by modern browsers and engines. Shorter code for the same calculation.
   • Cons: Less well-established and supported compared to Math.pow, might not work in older JavaScript versions or environments.
3. Multiplication for multiplication ( * version 2):
   • Pros: Efficient, as it leverages the existing multiplication operator, potentially faster than Math.pow and the shorthand operator.
   • Cons: Less readable, as it requires multiple multiplications to achieve the desired result.

Other considerations

• The test cases use a simple calculation to focus on the performance differences between these methods. More complex calculations might reveal different optimization strategies or nuances in JavaScript engine behavior.
• The benchmark uses Chrome 112 and Mac OS X 10.15.7 as the base platform, which may limit its generalizability across other browsers, operating systems, or environments.

Libraries used

None are explicitly mentioned in the provided code snippets.

Special JS features or syntax

The exponentiation shorthand operator ( **) is a relatively recent addition to JavaScript (introduced in ECMAScript 2016), and it's not widely supported by older browsers or engines.