PubSubJS vs. jQuery custom events (v135)

Revision 135 of this benchmark created by Anas Nakawa on

Description

An attempt at showing that PubSubJS is faster than using jQuery custom evens for publish/subscribe style messaging.

It's certainly not as rich in features, and I am happy with that.

Introducing PubSubJS

Preparation HTML

<script src="//ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<script>/*
Copyright (c) 2010,2011,2012 Morgan Roderick http://roderick.dk
License: MIT - http://mrgnrdrck.mit-license.org

https://github.com/mroderick/PubSubJS
*/
/*jslint white:true, plusplus:true, stupid:true*/
/*global
        setTimeout,
        module,
        exports,
        define,
        require,
        window
*/

(function(root, factory){
        'use strict';

        // CommonJS
        if (typeof exports === 'object'){
                module.exports = factory();

        // AMD
        } else if (typeof define === 'function' && define.amd){
                define(factory);
        // Browser
        } else {
                root.PubSub = factory();
        }
}( ( typeof window === 'object' && window ) || this, function(){

        'use strict';

        var PubSub = {
                        name: 'PubSubJS',
                        version: '1.3.5'
                },
                messages = {},
                lastUid = -1;

        /**
         *      Returns a function that throws the passed exception, for use as argument for setTimeout
         *      @param { Object } ex An Error object
         */
        function throwException( ex ){
                return function reThrowException(){
                        throw ex;
                };
        }

        function callSubscriberWithDelayedExceptions( subscriber, message, data ){
                try {
                        subscriber( message, data );
                } catch( ex ){
                        setTimeout( throwException( ex ), 0);
                }
        }

        function callSubscriberWithImmediateExceptions( subscriber, message, data ){
                subscriber( message, data );
        }

        function deliverMessage( originalMessage, matchedMessage, data, immediateExceptions ){
                var subscribers = messages[matchedMessage],
                        callSubscriber = immediateExceptions ? callSubscriberWithImmediateExceptions : callSubscriberWithDelayedExceptions,
                        i, j;

                if ( !messages.hasOwnProperty( matchedMessage ) ) {
                        return;
                }

                for ( i = 0, j = subscribers.length; i < j; i++ ){
                        callSubscriber( subscribers[i].func, originalMessage, data );
                }
        }

        function createDeliveryFunction( message, data, immediateExceptions ){
                return function deliverNamespaced(){
                        var topic = String( message ),
                                position = topic.lastIndexOf( '.' );

                        // deliver the message as it is now
                        deliverMessage(message, message, data, immediateExceptions);

                        // trim the hierarchy and deliver message to each level
                        while( position !== -1 ){
                                topic = topic.substr( 0, position );
                                position = topic.lastIndexOf('.');
                                deliverMessage( message, topic, data );
                        }
                };
        }

        function messageHasSubscribers( message ){
                var topic = String( message ),
                        found = messages.hasOwnProperty( topic ),
                        position = topic.lastIndexOf( '.' );

                while ( !found && position !== -1 ){
                        topic = topic.substr( 0, position );
                        position = topic.lastIndexOf('.');
                        found = messages.hasOwnProperty( topic );
                }

                return found;
        }

        function publish( message, data, sync, immediateExceptions ){
                var deliver = createDeliveryFunction( message, data, immediateExceptions ),
                        hasSubscribers = messageHasSubscribers( message );

                if ( !hasSubscribers ){
                        return false;
                }

                if ( sync === true ){
                        deliver();
                } else {
                        setTimeout( deliver, 0 );
                }
                return true;
        }

        /**
         *      PubSub.publish( message[, data] ) -> Boolean
         *      - message (String): The message to publish
         *      - data: The data to pass to subscribers
         *      Publishes the the message, passing the data to it's subscribers
        **/
        PubSub.publish = function( message, data ){
                return publish( message, data, false, PubSub.immediateExceptions );
        };

        /**
         *      PubSub.publishSync( message[, data] ) -> Boolean
         *      - message (String): The message to publish
         *      - data: The data to pass to subscribers
         *      Publishes the the message synchronously, passing the data to it's subscribers
        **/
        PubSub.publishSync = function( message, data ){
                return publish( message, data, true, PubSub.immediateExceptions );
        };

        /**
         *      PubSub.subscribe( message, func ) -> String
         *      - message (String): The message to subscribe to
         *      - func (Function): The function to call when a new message is published
         *      Subscribes the passed function to the passed message. Every returned token is unique and should be stored if
         *      you need to unsubscribe
        **/
        PubSub.subscribe = function( message, func ){
                // message is not registered yet
                if ( !messages.hasOwnProperty( message ) ){
                        messages[message] = [];
                }

                // forcing token as String, to allow for future expansions without breaking usage
                // and allow for easy use as key names for the 'messages' object
                var token = String(++lastUid);
                messages[message].push( { token : token, func : func } );

                // return token for unsubscribing
                return token;
        };

        /**
         *      PubSub.unsubscribe( tokenOrFunction ) -> String | Boolean
         *  - tokenOrFunction (String|Function): The token of the function to unsubscribe or func passed in on subscribe
         *  Unsubscribes a specific subscriber from a specific message using the unique token
         *  or if using Function as argument, it will remove all subscriptions with that function
        **/
        PubSub.unsubscribe = function( tokenOrFunction ){
                var isToken = typeof tokenOrFunction === 'string',
                        key = isToken ? 'token' : 'func',
                        succesfulReturnValue = isToken ? tokenOrFunction : true,

                        result = false,
                        m, i;

                for ( m in messages ){
                        if ( messages.hasOwnProperty( m ) ){
                                for ( i = messages[m].length-1 ; i >= 0; i-- ){
                                        if ( messages[m][i][key] === tokenOrFunction ){
                                                messages[m].splice( i, 1 );
                                                result = succesfulReturnValue;

                                                // tokens are unique, so we can just return here
                                                if ( isToken ){
                                                        return result;
                                                }
                                        }
                                }
                        }
                }

                return result;
        };

        return PubSub;
}));</script>
<script>
  var callback1 = function(event) {
    return false;
  };
  var callback2 = function() {};
  var payload = {
   somekey: 'some value'
  };
  var body;
  var someJqueryObject = $({});
  
  // let's use jQuery.ready to make sure that the DOM is ready,
  // before trying to work with it
  jQuery(function() {
   // we'll use the body element to exchange messages for jQuery
   // if using deeper nested elements, jQuery will be slower, as custom events bubble
   body = $('body');
  
   // subscribe our callback1 function to the custom event for jQuery, only once
   body.bind('my-event', callback1);
  
   // subscribe our callback1 function to the custom event for the plain jQuery object (non-DOM)
   someJqueryObject.bind('my-event', callback1);
  
   // subscribe our callback2 function to the message for PubSub
   PubSub.subscribe('my-event', callback2)
  
   // Use document instead of 'body' as the anchor for custom events
   doc = $(document)
  });

pubsub = {};

pubsub.events = {};

pubsub.publish = function( name, data ) {
  pubsub.events[ name ] = pubsub.events[ name ] || new Event( name );
  var e = pubsub.events[ name ];
  e.data = data;
  dispatchEvent( e );
}

pubsub.subscribe = function( name, handler, context ) {
  addEventListener( name, handler )
}

pubsub.subscribe('my-event', function() {});
</script>

Test runner

Ready to run.

Testing in
TestOps/sec
jQuery DOM - trigger
body.trigger('my-event', payload);
ready
jQuery Object - trigger
someJqueryObject.trigger('my-event', payload);
ready
PubSub - publish - asyncronous
PubSub.publish('my-event', payload);
ready
PubSub - publish - syncronous
PubSub.publish('my-event', payload, true);
ready
jQuery document - trigger
doc.trigger('my-event', payload);
ready
Vanilla PubSub
pubsub.publish('my-event', payload);
ready

Revisions

You can edit these tests or add more tests to this page by appending /edit to the URL.