Benchmark: innerhtml vs removechild

HTML Preparation code:

<div id="container"></div>

Script Preparation code:

var node = document.getElementById('container');

for(var i = 0; i < 1000; i++) node.appendChild(document.createElement('div'));

Tests:

innerHTML
var node = document.getElementById('container'); node.innerHTML = '';
removeChild
var node = document.getElementById('container'); while(node.firstChild) node.removeChild(node.firstChild)
smarter while
var node = document.getElementById('container'); try { while(node.removeChild(node.firstChild)) {} } catch(e) {}

Rendered benchmark preparation results:

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Previous results

Test case name	Result
innerHTML
removeChild
smarter while

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

Autogenerated LLM Summary (model llama3.2:3b, generated 26 days ago):

LLMs can make mistakes. Check important info.

Let's dive into the world of JavaScript microbenchmarks.

**Benchmark Overview**

The provided JSON represents a benchmark test on `innerhtml vs removechild`. The goal is to compare the performance of three approaches:

1. Setting an element's inner HTML using `innerHTML`.
2. Removing children from an element using `removeChild` in a traditional loop.
3. Smarter while loop that removes children from an element using `removeChild`.

**Options Compared**

The three options are compared in terms of their execution speed.

* **Option 1: `innerHTML`**: Sets the inner HTML of an element by replacing its content with a new string.
* **Option 2: Traditional `removeChild` loop**: Removes children from an element using a traditional loop, which involves iterating over each child node and calling `removeChild`.
* **Option 3: Smarter while loop**: Uses a while loop to remove children from an element, but instead of removing the first child, it calls `removeChild` on the current child. This approach avoids unnecessary iterations.

**Pros and Cons**

* **Option 1: `innerHTML`**:
	+ Pros: Simple and efficient for setting inner HTML.
	+ Cons: Can be slower than traditional loops for large datasets due to string creation and manipulation.
* **Option 2: Traditional `removeChild` loop**:
	+ Pros: Can be faster for small datasets since it only requires a single iteration.
	+ Cons: Requires manual iteration, which can lead to errors if not implemented correctly.
* **Option 3: Smarter while loop**:
	+ Pros: Avoids unnecessary iterations and is more efficient for large datasets.
	+ Cons: May require additional logic to implement the smarter loop.

**Library and Syntax**

The benchmark uses no external libraries, but it does utilize JavaScript syntax features like `innerHTML` and `removeChild`. The `innerHTML` property is a built-in property of HTML elements in most browsers, while `removeChild` is an inherited method from `Node` objects.

**Special JS Features or Syntax (Not Applicable)**

Since this benchmark doesn't use any special JavaScript features or syntax beyond the standard `innerHTML` and `removeChild`, there's no additional explanation needed.

**Alternative Approaches**

Other alternatives to consider for similar benchmarks might include:

* Using a more efficient data structure, such as an array of elements, instead of an HTML element with multiple children.
* Implementing a custom loop that avoids unnecessary iterations, like the smarter while loop.
* Comparing performance using other methods, such as appending elements to an array or using `slice()` and `splice()`.
* Using different browsers or versions to test for compatibility and performance differences.

Latest run results:

Run details: (Test run date: 4 years ago)

User agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:72.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/72.0

Browser/OS: Firefox 72 on Linux

View result in a separate tab

Test name	Executions per second
innerHTML	659156.2 Ops/sec
removeChild	987539.4 Ops/sec
smarter while	43682.9 Ops/sec

Related benchmarks:

innerhtml vs removechild (version: 0)

Comparing performance of: innerHTML vs removeChild vs smarter while

Created: 7 years ago by: Guest

Jump to the latest result

innerHTML

removeChild

smarter while

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Experimental features:

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

Autogenerated LLM Summary (model llama3.2:3b, generated 26 days ago):