Benchmark: Empty vs If 2 - MeasureThat.net

Script Preparation code:

var data = ['A', {}];
var shouldDebug = false;
function logDebug(){};

Tests:

If check
if(shouldDebug) { logDebug(data) }
Empty function
logDebug(data)

Rendered benchmark preparation results:

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Previous results

Test case name	Result
If check
Empty function

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

Autogenerated LLM Summary (model gpt-4o-mini, generated one month ago):

LLMs can make mistakes. Check important info.

The benchmark titled "Empty vs If 2" is designed to evaluate the performance of two different code constructs: an empty function call versus an if statement that checks a debugging condition. By running this benchmark, developers can gain insights into the performance implications of adding conditional logic in their JavaScript code.

### Test Cases Explained

1. **If Check**
   - **Benchmark Definition**: `if(shouldDebug) { logDebug(data) }`
   - **Description**: This test case executes a conditional statement that checks if the variable `shouldDebug` is true. If true, it calls the function `logDebug(data)`. 
   - **Performance**: The measured performance is 36,539,552 executions per second, indicating how often this condition could be evaluated within a second.
   - **Pros/Cons**:
     - **Pros**: Incorporates conditional logic, allowing developers to include debug information when necessary without permanently affecting other parts of their code that may be performance-sensitive.
     - **Cons**: The conditional check adds overhead to the execution speed. Each iteration involves evaluating the condition, which can potentially slow down execution, particularly in tight loops or performance-critical code.

2. **Empty Function**
   - **Benchmark Definition**: `logDebug(data)`
   - **Description**: This test case executes the function `logDebug(data)` directly, without a conditional check. 
   - **Performance**: The benchmark shows 19,483,250 executions per second for this operation.
   - **Pros/Cons**:
     - **Pros**: Direct function calls generally yield faster performance since there’s no conditional logic to evaluate, making it suitable for scenarios where consistent execution is required without variability from debug checks.
     - **Cons**: Running logging or debugging functions unconditionally can lead to unnecessary overhead in production environments, where debug logging may not be needed. This can clutter logs and degrade overall performance.

### Considerations

- **Conditionals in Performance-Critical Code**: When writing performance-critical code, the choice between using conditional checks versus unconditional execution can have implications for speed and efficiency. Utilizing conditional logic judiciously can help maintain performance while providing necessary debug information during development.
  
- **Optimization Techniques**: Developers might consider alternatives like using preprocessor-like tools (though not directly available in JavaScript) which can strip out debug code in production deployments to retain performance.

### Alternatives

- **Flag-Based Logging**: Instead of checking a debug flag at runtime, developers might consider setting up a logging utility that enables or disables logging during deployment, potentially reducing overhead.
  
- **Environment Variables**: Using environment variables can be a strategy for toggling debug information, where the function can check a global or environment-specific state before executing debug commands without inline conditionals in the main logic.

### Conclusion

Overall, the benchmark clarifies the trade-offs between performance and functionality when using conditional statements in JavaScript. The results demonstrate that while an empty function call is faster under certain conditions, the addition of debug checks can significantly slow down execution, emphasizing the need for developers to be mindful of their coding practices, particularly in performance-critical applications.

Latest run results:

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

User agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/128.0.0.0 Safari/537.36

Browser/OS: Chrome 128 on Mac OS X 10.15.7

View result in a separate tab

Test name	Executions per second
If check	36539552.0 Ops/sec
Empty function	19483250.0 Ops/sec

Related benchmarks:

Empty vs If 2 (version: 0)

Check the performance of an empty function call vs an if statement

Comparing performance of: If check vs Empty function

Created: one month ago by: Guest

Jump to the latest result

If check

Empty function

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Experimental features:

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

Autogenerated LLM Summary (model gpt-4o-mini, generated one month ago):