Chapter 4. Algorithms and Flow Control

The overall structure of your code is one of the main determinants as to how fast it will execute. Having a very small amount of code doesn’t necessarily mean that it will run quickly, and having a large amount of code doesn’t necessarily mean that it will run slowly. A lot of the performance impact is directly related to how the code has been organized and how you’re attempting to solve a given problem.

The techniques in this chapter aren’t necessarily unique to JavaScript and are often taught as performance optimizations for other languages. There are some deviations from advice given for other languages, though, as there are many more JavaScript engines to deal with and their quirks need to be considered, but all of the techniques are based on prevailing computer science knowledge.