README.md

js-shuffle-algorithms

This repo is for comparing array shuffling algorithms:

• Array.sort(() => Math.random() - 0.5)
• Fisher-Yates

The scripts take the array [0, 1, 2] and shuffle it 10,000 times. The results show the time it took to execute, and the number of times each permutation resulted.

Sample results:

node js-sort-random.js

7 ms
012: 3735
021: 609
102: 1290
120: 615
201: 650
210: 3101

node fisher-yates.js

9 ms
012: 1694
021: 1636
102: 1687
120: 1633
201: 1682
210: 1668

While the Array.sort() + Math.random() algorithm is consistently faster, it is not significantly faster, and the poor randomness of the distribution is far too great to justify the time savings.