Benchmarks of various nested loops control flow mechanisms in Javascript

README.md

MDN recommends NOT to use labels in Javascript, and instead use exceptions or functions. But turns out labels are the fastest, closely followed by named functions.

Test case: Run two nested loops. The inner loop needs to continue the outer loop upon some condition.

Tests:

0. Using named loops with labels.
1. Using an anonymous function.
2. Using a named function.
3. Using exceptions.

Results:

$ time node labels.js

real    0m0.138s
user    0m0.130s
sys     0m0.008s

###################

$ time node anon_func.js

real    0m0.631s
user    0m0.623s
sys     0m0.011s

###################

$ time node named_func.js

real    0m0.163s
user    0m0.155s
sys     0m0.007s

###################

$ time node throw.js

real	0m1.868s
user	0m1.860s
sys     0m0.018s

anon_func.js

var ITERATIONS = 10E6,
    tmp = 0;

// OUTER LOOP
for (var i = 0; i < ITERATIONS; i++) {

    (function() {

        // INNER LOOP
        for (var j = 0; j < ITERATIONS; j++) {
            if (j > 10) return;
        }

        // CODE TO SKIP
        tmp++;

    })();

}

labels.js

var ITERATIONS = 10E6,
    tmp = 0;

// OUTER LOOP
outer: for (var i = 0; i < ITERATIONS; i++) {

    // INNER LOOP
    inner: for (var j = 0; j < ITERATIONS; j++) {
        if (j > 10) continue outer;
    }

    // CODE TO SKIP
    tmp++;

}

named_func.js

var ITERATIONS = 10E6,
    tmp = 0;

// OUTER LOOP
for (var i = 0; i < ITERATIONS; i++) inner();

function inner() {

    // INNER LOOP
    for (var j = 0; j < ITERATIONS; j++) {
        if (j > 10) return;
    }

    // CODE TO SKIP
    tmp++;

}

throw.js

var ITERATIONS = 10E6,
    tmp = 0;

// OUTER LOOP
for (var i = 0; i < ITERATIONS; i++) {

    try {

        // INNER LOOP
        for (var j = 0; j < ITERATIONS; j++) {
            if (j > 10) throw 0;
        }

    } catch (e) {
        continue;
    }

    // CODE TO SKIP
    tmp++;

}

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4906762/is-using-labels-in-javascript-bad-practice
That text was removed from MDN in May 2015, with these comments in the revision history: "Removing recommandation not supported by clear evidence." "Clearing technical review. I think it is true that there is no need for the big red banner that discourages labels. Havent found anything that says differently." –