I know what is the difference between unshift() and push() methods in JavaScript, but I\'m wondering what is the difference in time complexity?
push() is faster.
js>function foo() {a=[]; start = new Date; for (var i=0;i<100000;i++) a.unshift(1); return((new Date)-start)}
js>foo()
2190
js>function bar() {a=[]; start = new Date; for (var i=0;i<100000;i++) a.push(1); return((new Date)-start)}
js>bar()
10
function foo() {a=[]; start = new Date; for (var i=0;i<100000;i++) a.unshift(1); return((new Date)-start)}
console.log(foo())
function bar() {a=[]; start = new Date; for (var i=0;i<100000;i++) a.push(1); return((new Date)-start)}
console.log(bar());
The above does not take into consideration the order of the arrays. If you want to compare them properly, you must reverse the pushed array. However, push then reverse is still faster by ~10ms for me on chrome with this snippet:
var a=[];
var start = new Date;
for (var i=0;i<100000;i++) {
a.unshift(1);
}
var end = (new Date)-start;
console.log(`Unshift time: ${end}`);
var a=[];
var start = new Date;
for (var i=0;i<100000;i++) {
a.push(1);
}
a.reverse();
var end = (new Date)-start;
console.log(`Push and reverse time: ${end}`);