Question

Tested the following:

        var timer:int = getTimer();
        trace(timer);

        for ( var g:int = 0; g < 10000000; ++g)
        {
            var mod0:int = g % 10;
            var sum0:String = "";

            switch(mod0)
            {
                case 0: sum0 = "0"; break;
                case 1: sum0 = "1"; break;
                case 2: sum0 = "2"; break;
                case 3: sum0 = "3"; break;
                case 4: sum0 = "4"; break;
                case 5: sum0 = "5"; break;
                case 6: sum0 = "6"; break;
                case 7: sum0 = "7"; break;
                case 8: sum0 = "8"; break;
                case 9: sum0 = "9"; break;
                default: break;
            }
        }

        timer = getTimer();
        trace(timer);

        for ( var h:int = 0; h < 10000000; ++h)
        {
            var mod1:int = h % 10;
            var sum1:String = "";

            if (mod1 == 0)      sum1 = "0";
            else if (mod1 == 1) sum1 = "1";
            else if (mod1 == 2) sum1 = "2";
            else if (mod1 == 3) sum1 = "3";
            else if (mod1 == 4) sum1 = "4";
            else if (mod1 == 5) sum1 = "5";
            else if (mod1 == 6) sum1 = "6";
            else if (mod1 == 7) sum1 = "7";
            else if (mod1 == 8) sum1 = "8";
            else if (mod1 == 9) sum1 = "9";
        }

        timer = getTimer();
        trace(timer);

timer gives:
221
443
636
, which means switch takes 222ms and if-else takes 193ms, why?
For what I’ve known in C++, switch is faster because it compiles to jump-table assembly codes, shouldn’t it the same in AS3?

Answer 1

There is a pretty thorough look at this here: http://jacksondunstan.com/articles/793

TL;DR: The actionscript compiler is kinda bad. Also the switch statement is a lot more complicated in AS3 than for example C/C++, since it can work on non-integer types.