Duff's device

JavaScript performance comparison

Revision 13 of this test case created

Info

Simple test of variations of loop unrolling/unwinding based on the original Duff's Device.

Result may vary based on the number of iterations, browser, OS and external influences...

Usually Fast Duff's Device #2, #3, #4 runs faster when the number of iterations is bigger or when the test is executed multiple times without browser refresh - bitwise operations have a really strange behavior in JS, sometimes they are really fast and other times they run slower than the Math methods.

Make sure you test each approach using real application code (since results may vary) and just use this kind of optimization if you really need it! Try to combine techniques and avoid property lookups!

PS: It's over 9000 iterations!

Preparation code

<script>
  var iterations = 1000000;
</script>

Test runner

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Testing in unknown unknown
Test Ops/sec
Regular Loop
 
var testVal = 0;
var n = iterations;
while (n--) {
 testVal++;
}
 pending…
Duff's Device
 
/**
 * Duff's Device 
 * http://home.earthlink.net/~kendrasg/info/js_opt/jsOptMain.html#duffsdevice
 */
var testVal = 0;
var n = iterations / 8;
var caseTest = iterations % 8;

do {
 switch (caseTest) {
 case 0:
  testVal++;
 case 7:
  testVal++;
 case 6:
  testVal++;
 case 5:
  testVal++;
 case 4:
  testVal++;
 case 3:
  testVal++;
 case 2:
  testVal++;
 case 1:
  testVal++;
 }
 caseTest = 0;
}
while (--n > 0);
 pending…
Fast Duff's Device #1
 
/**
 * Fast Duff's Device
 * @author Jeff Greenberg
 * http://home.earthlink.net/~kendrasg/info/js_opt/jsOptMain.html#fastDuffsdevice
 */
var testVal = 0;
var n = iterations % 8;
while (n--) {
 testVal++;
}

n = parseInt(iterations / 8);
while (n--) {
 testVal++;
 testVal++;
 testVal++;
 testVal++;
 testVal++;
 testVal++;
 testVal++;
 testVal++;
}
 pending…
Fast Duff's Device #2
 
/*
 * Fast Duff's Device
 * @author Miller Medeiros <http://millermedeiros.com> 
 * @version 0.1 (2010/08/25)
 */
var testVal = 0;
var n = iterations % 8;
while (n--) {
 testVal++;
}

n = Math.floor(iterations / 8);
while (n--) {
 testVal++;
 testVal++;
 testVal++;
 testVal++;
 testVal++;
 testVal++;
 testVal++;
 testVal++;
}
 pending…
Fast Duff's Device #3
 
/*
 * Fast Duff's Device
 * @author Miller Medeiros <http://millermedeiros.com> 
 * @version 0.2 (2010/08/25)
 */
var testVal = 0;
var n = iterations % 8;
while (n--) {
 testVal++;
}

n = (iterations / 8) ^ 0; //`value ^ 0` is the same as `Math.floor` for positive numbers and `Math.ceil` for negative numbers
while (n--) {
 testVal++;
 testVal++;
 testVal++;
 testVal++;
 testVal++;
 testVal++;
 testVal++;
 testVal++;
}
 pending…
Fast Duff's Device #4
 
/*
 * Fast Duff's Device
 * @author Miller Medeiros <http://millermedeiros.com> 
 * @version 0.3 (2010/08/25)
 */
var testVal = 0;
var n = iterations % 8;
while (n--) {
 testVal++;
}

n = (iterations * 0.125) ^ 0; //multiplication is faster than division in some cases
while (n--) {
 testVal++;
 testVal++;
 testVal++;
 testVal++;
 testVal++;
 testVal++;
 testVal++;
 testVal++;
}
 pending…

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