Using a function for retrieving config info compared to direct array access

Question

I use a config object to store configuration information. So something like this example:

var value = myObject.Get('name');

The actual config is stored in an array - ie config['name'] = value

There are a lot of calls to the Get() function - over 25,000. How significant would the difference be if that array was accessed directly instead of via he Get() call?

Also - in an animation that 25,000 could be done 60 times per second (!)

See also: [JavaScript: “Function calls are expensive” vs. “Keep functions small”](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11168939) — Tomasz Nurkiewicz, Jun 23 '12 at 16:02

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 23 '12 at 16:07

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I would recommend not overoptimizing until you have means to test how much this actually effects things. Depending on the situations, this whole call could just end up inlined anyway.

answered Jun 23 '12 at 16:07

loganfsmyth

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score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 23 '12 at 16:10

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The direct access should be faster, but you should do some tests, because the code performance is often influenced by the js engine.

For example, it's about 50% faster to access an object's key through the dot synthax (obj.key) than the asociative array like one (obj["key"]) in chrome, while in firefox it's the other way around.
I recommend you don't do micro-optimisations before you end your project and only after you do some testing/research.

answered Jun 23 '12 at 16:10

gion_13

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Presumably though both of those methods would be faster than a function call? – Richard Jun 23 '12 at 16:20

Using a function for retrieving config info compared to direct array access

2 Answers2