Benchmark: Date time performance

Script Preparation code:

var timestamp = null

Tests:

Date.now()
timestamp = Date.now();
Date gettime
timestamp = new Date().getTime();
Unary
timestamp = +new Date()

Rendered benchmark preparation results:

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Previous results

Test case name	Result
Date.now()
Date gettime
Unary

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

Latest run results:

Run details: (Test run date: 3 years ago)

User agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/94.0.4606.81 Safari/537.36

Browser/OS: Chrome 94 on Mac OS X 10.15.7

View result in a separate tab

Test name	Executions per second
Date.now()	3286706.5 Ops/sec
Date gettime	2811831.8 Ops/sec
Unary	2303441.5 Ops/sec

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

LLMs can make mistakes. Check important info.

Let's break down the provided benchmark data and explain what's being tested, compared, and their pros and cons.

**Benchmark Definition JSON**

The benchmark definition is a simple JSON object that contains metadata about the benchmark:

* "Name": The name of the benchmark ("Date time performance")
* "Description": A brief description of the benchmark (comparing performance of `time`)
* "Script Preparation Code": An empty string, indicating that no script preparation code is required.
* "Html Preparation Code": Another empty string, indicating that no HTML preparation code is needed.

**Individual Test Cases**

There are three test cases:

1. **Date.now()**
	* Benchmark Definition: `timestamp = Date.now();`
	* Test Name: `Date.now()`

This test case measures the performance of the `Date.now()` method, which returns the number of milliseconds since the Unix epoch (January 1, 1970).

Pros: Simple and widely supported.

Cons: None notable. However, it's worth noting that `Date.now()` may not be suitable for all use cases, such as when working with dates in other formats or requiring a specific timezone.

2. **Date gettime**
	* Benchmark Definition: `timestamp = new Date().getTime();`
	* Test Name: `Date gettime`

This test case measures the performance of the `new Date().getTime()` method, which returns the number of milliseconds since the Unix epoch (January 1, 1970) for a specific date and time.

Pros:

* More precise than `Date.now()`, as it takes into account the time zone and date.
* Suitable for use cases requiring precise timing.

Cons: None notable. However, some older browsers may not support this method or may have issues with its accuracy.

3. **Unary (+new Date())**
	* Benchmark Definition: `timestamp = +new Date()`
	* Test Name: "Unary"

This test case measures the performance of a unary operation on the result of `new Date()`. The `+` operator is used to convert the date object to a number.

Pros:

* Similar to `Date.now()` in terms of performance, as it simply extracts the timestamp from the date object.
* Suitable for use cases requiring simple timing comparisons.

Cons: None notable. However, some older browsers may not support this method or may have issues with its accuracy.

**Comparison**

The three test cases are compared based on their execution speed (measured in executions per second). The results indicate that:

* `Date.now()` is the fastest among the three options.
* `Date gettime` is slightly slower than `Date.now()`, but still fast and suitable for use cases requiring precise timing.
* "Unary" is comparable to `Date.now()` in terms of performance.

**Library: Date**

The `Date` object is a built-in JavaScript library that provides various methods for working with dates. The `new Date()` method creates a new date object, which can be used to get the current timestamp using the `getTime()` or `Date.now()` methods.

**Special JS Feature/Syntax: None**

There are no special JavaScript features or syntax being tested in this benchmark.

**Alternatives**

Other alternatives for measuring timing performance in JavaScript include:

* Using Web API's `performance.now()` method, which is more precise than `Date.now()` and provides better support for high-resolution timing.
* Using third-party libraries like HighPerformanceJavaScript or micro-benchmarking frameworks like benchmark.js or test-anything.

Keep in mind that the choice of alternative will depend on the specific requirements and constraints of your project.

Related benchmarks:

Date time performance (version: 0)

Comparing performance of time

Comparing performance of: Date.now() vs Date gettime vs Unary

Created: 3 years ago by: Guest

Jump to the latest result

Date.now()

Date gettime

Unary

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Experimental features:

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

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