Benchmark: Looping Frozen object: Object Freeze vs Without Object Freeze

HTML Preparation code:

<!--your preparation HTML code goes here-->

Script Preparation code:

const birdSpecies = {
  forest: {
    species: [
      {
        name: "Northern Cardinal",
        physicalCharacteristics: {
          color: "Red",
          size: "Medium",
          beakType: "Conical"
        },
        diet: {
          primary: "Seeds",
          secondary: "Fruits"
        },
        habitat: "Woodlands and forests"
      },
      {
        name: "Woodpecker",
        physicalCharacteristics: {
          color: "Black, White, and Red",
          size: "Medium",
          beakType: "Chisel-shaped"
        },
        diet: {
          primary: "Insects",
          secondary: "Tree sap"
        },
        habitat: "Wooded areas"
      }
    ]
  },
  desert: {
    species: [
      {
        name: "Roadrunner",
        physicalCharacteristics: {
          color: "Brown and White",
          size: "Medium",
          beakType: "Long and Slim"
        },
        diet: {
          primary: "Insects",
          secondary: "Small reptiles"
        },
        habitat: "Desert and arid regions"
      },
      {
        name: "Cactus Wren",
        physicalCharacteristics: {
          color: "Brown with streaks",
          size: "Small",
          beakType: "Curved"
        },
        diet: {
          primary: "Insects",
          secondary: "Seeds"
        },
        habitat: "Cacti and desert shrubs"
      }
    ]
  },
  wetlands: {
    species: [
      {
        name: "Great Blue Heron",
        physicalCharacteristics: {
          color: "Blue-gray",
          size: "Large",
          beakType: "Long and Sharp"
        },
        diet: {
          primary: "Fish",
          secondary: "Amphibians"
        },
        habitat: "Wetlands and marshes"
      },
      {
        name: "American Coot",
        physicalCharacteristics: {
          color: "Dark gray with white bill",
          size: "Medium",
          beakType: "Flat and short"
        },
        diet: {
          primary: "Aquatic plants",
          secondary: "Small invertebrates"
        },
        habitat: "Lakes and wetlands"
      }
    ]
  }
}

const frozenObject = Object.freeze(birdSpecies)
const nonFrozenObject = birdSpecies

Tests:

Loop Frozen Object
for (const [habitat, data] of Object.entries(frozenObject)) { console.log(`Habitat: ${habitat}`) for (const bird of data.species) { console.log(` Name: ${bird.name}`) console.log(` Physical Characteristics:`) for (const [key, value] of Object.entries(bird.physicalCharacteristics)) { console.log(` ${key}: ${value}`) } console.log(` Diet:`) for (const [key, value] of Object.entries(bird.diet)) { console.log(` ${key}: ${value}`) } console.log(` Habitat: ${bird.habitat}`) } }
Loop Non-Frozen Object
for (const [habitat, data] of Object.entries(nonFrozenObject)) { console.log(`Habitat: ${habitat}`) for (const bird of data.species) { console.log(` Name: ${bird.name}`) console.log(` Physical Characteristics:`) for (const [key, value] of Object.entries(bird.physicalCharacteristics)) { console.log(` ${key}: ${value}`) } console.log(` Diet:`) for (const [key, value] of Object.entries(bird.diet)) { console.log(` ${key}: ${value}`) } console.log(` Habitat: ${bird.habitat}`) } }

Rendered benchmark preparation results:

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Previous results

Test case name	Result
Loop Frozen Object
Loop Non-Frozen Object

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

Latest run results:

Run details: (Test run date: 26 days ago)

User agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; Android 10; K) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/131.0.0.0 Mobile Safari/537.36

Browser/OS: Chrome Mobile 131 on Android

View result in a separate tab

Test name	Executions per second
Loop Frozen Object	2166.1 Ops/sec
Loop Non-Frozen Object	2121.1 Ops/sec

Autogenerated LLM Summary (model gpt-4o-mini, generated 26 days ago):

LLMs can make mistakes. Check important info.

The provided benchmark focuses on measuring performance differences when looping through properties of a JavaScript object that is either frozen or non-frozen. Here’s a breakdown of what is being tested, the comparisons made, and the implications of the results.

### Objects in the Benchmark

1. **Frozen Object (`frozenObject`)**:
   - Created using JavaScript's `Object.freeze()`, which prevents the modification of the object's properties, effectively making it immutable. Once an object is frozen, you cannot add, delete, or change its properties.
  
2. **Non-Frozen Object (`nonFrozenObject`)**:
   - Simply refers to the same `birdSpecies` object without any restrictions. This object can be modified at any time.

### Performance Comparison

Two test cases are run:

1. **Loop Frozen Object**: This test benchmarks how quickly the code can iterate over the properties of the frozen object.
  
2. **Loop Non-Frozen Object**: This test measures the iteration speed for a non-frozen object.

In both test cases, the same nested looping construct is used to access and log various properties of the bird species across multiple habitats.

### Results Summary

- **Frozen Object Execution**: 2166.06 executions per second
- **Non-Frozen Object Execution**: 2121.12 executions per second

### Pros and Cons of Frozen vs. Non-Frozen Objects

- **Frozen Object**:
  - **Pros**:
    - Enhances performance in specific cases since the engine can optimize access patterns due to the immutability of the structure.
    - Improves maintainability by preventing accidental modifications, thus aiding in more predictable behaviors.
  - **Cons**:
    - Does not allow for property changes, which can be a drawback in scenarios where dynamic updates are necessary.

- **Non-Frozen Object**:
  - **Pros**:
    - Flexibility in data manipulation (adding, deleting, or updating properties).
  - **Cons**:
    - Potential overhead from tracking changes, which can lead to fewer optimizations by the JavaScript engine, possibly resulting in lower performance in certain contexts.

### Other Considerations

- **Memory Usage**: Frozen objects can have advantages regarding memory usage since shared references can be made without the risk of alteration. Non-frozen objects may require additional memory for copies if frequent modifications are made.
  
- **Use Cases**: Choosing between frozen and non-frozen depends on the use case. If the data structure is constant and does not require updates, using frozen objects can be beneficial.

### Alternatives

- Instead of freezing objects, developers can also use techniques such as:
  - **Object.create(null)** to create an object without prototype properties, reducing overhead in certain contexts.
  - **Immutability Helpers**: Libraries like Immutable.js that provide structures optimized for immutability while offering straightforward methods for accessing and modifying data.
  
- Data structures like **Typed Arrays** or other specialized containers may also be suitable alternatives depending on the specific needs around data handling, memory constraints, or performance optimizations required.

In conclusion, this benchmark provides insight into the performance implications of using frozen versus non-frozen JavaScript objects, illuminating important considerations in application architecture and coding practices.

Related benchmarks:

Looping Frozen object: Object Freeze vs Without Object Freeze (version: 1)

Comparing performance of: Loop Frozen Object vs Loop Non-Frozen Object

Created: 26 days ago by: Registered User

Jump to the latest result

Loop Frozen Object

Loop Non-Frozen Object

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Experimental features:

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

Autogenerated LLM Summary (model gpt-4o-mini, generated 26 days ago):