PubSubJS vs. jQuery custom events (v95)

Revision 95 of this benchmark created 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)
  });
</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

Revisions

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