native-buffer-browserify
The buffer module from node.js, but for browsers. This is
a fork of buffer-browserify.
When you require('buffer')
in
browserify, this module will be
loaded.
It will also be loaded if you use the global Buffer
variable.
Features
- Backed by Typed Arrays (
Uint8Array
and ArrayBuffer
) (not Object
, so it's fast) - Bundle size is nearly half of the original
buffer-browserify
(35KB vs 65KB!) - Excellent browser support (IE 6+, Chrome 4+, Firefox 3+, Safari 5.1+, Opera 11+, iOS).
- Preserves Node API exactly.
- Faster pretty much across the board (see perf results below)
.slice()
returns instances of the same type (Buffer)- Square-bracket
buf[4]
notation works, even in old browsers like IE6! - Does not modify any browser prototypes.
- All tests from the original
buffer-browserify
project pass, plus additional ones.
How does it work?
The Buffer
constructor returns instances of Uint8Array
that are augmented with function properties for all the Buffer API functions. We use Uint8Array
so that square bracket notation works as expected -- it returns a single octet.
By augmenting the instances, we can avoid modifying the Uint8Array
prototype.
Important Differences
- Use
Buffer.isBuffer
instead of instanceof Buffer
. The Buffer constructor returns a Uint8Array
(as discussed above) for performance reasons, so instanceof Buffer
won't work. In node Buffer.isBuffer
just does instanceof Buffer
, but in browserify we use a Buffer.isBuffer
shim that detects our special Uint8Array
-based Buffers. - Don't rely on
slice()
to modify the memory of the parent buffer. If the browser is using the Typed Array implementation then modifying a buffer created by slice()
will modify the original memory, just like in Node. But for the Object implementation (used in unsupported browsers), this is not possible. Therefore, do not rely on this behavior until browser support gets better. (Note: currently even Firefox isn't using the Typed Array implementation because of this bug.)
Performance
See perf tests in /perf
.
# Chrome 33
NewBuffer#bracket-notation x 11,194,815 ops/sec ±1.73% (64 runs sampled)
OldBuffer#bracket-notation x 9,546,694 ops/sec ±0.76% (67 runs sampled)
Fastest is NewBuffer#bracket-notation
NewBuffer#concat x 949,714 ops/sec ±2.48% (63 runs sampled)
OldBuffer#concat x 634,906 ops/sec ±0.42% (68 runs sampled)
Fastest is NewBuffer#concat
NewBuffer#copy x 15,436,458 ops/sec ±1.74% (67 runs sampled)
OldBuffer#copy x 3,990,346 ops/sec ±0.42% (68 runs sampled)
Fastest is NewBuffer#copy
NewBuffer#readDoubleBE x 1,132,954 ops/sec ±2.36% (65 runs sampled)
OldBuffer#readDoubleBE x 846,337 ops/sec ±0.58% (68 runs sampled)
Fastest is NewBuffer#readDoubleBE
NewBuffer#new x 1,419,300 ops/sec ±3.50% (66 runs sampled)
Uint8Array#new x 3,898,573 ops/sec ±0.88% (67 runs sampled) (used internally by NewBuffer)
OldBuffer#new x 2,284,568 ops/sec ±0.57% (67 runs sampled)
Fastest is Uint8Array#new
NewBuffer#readFloatBE x 1,203,763 ops/sec ±1.81% (68 runs sampled)
OldBuffer#readFloatBE x 954,923 ops/sec ±0.66% (70 runs sampled)
Fastest is NewBuffer#readFloatBE
NewBuffer#readUInt32LE x 750,341 ops/sec ±1.70% (66 runs sampled)
OldBuffer#readUInt32LE x 1,408,478 ops/sec ±0.60% (68 runs sampled)
Fastest is OldBuffer#readUInt32LE
NewBuffer#slice x 1,802,870 ops/sec ±1.87% (64 runs sampled)
OldBuffer#slice x 1,725,928 ops/sec ±0.74% (68 runs sampled)
Fastest is NewBuffer#slice
NewBuffer#writeFloatBE x 830,407 ops/sec ±3.09% (66 runs sampled)
OldBuffer#writeFloatBE x 508,446 ops/sec ±0.49% (69 runs sampled)
Fastest is NewBuffer#writeFloatBE
# Node 0.11
NewBuffer#bracket-notation x 10,912,085 ops/sec ±0.89% (92 runs sampled)
OldBuffer#bracket-notation x 9,051,638 ops/sec ±0.84% (92 runs sampled)
Buffer#bracket-notation x 10,721,608 ops/sec ±0.63% (91 runs sampled)
Fastest is NewBuffer#bracket-notation
NewBuffer#concat x 1,438,825 ops/sec ±1.80% (91 runs sampled)
OldBuffer#concat x 888,614 ops/sec ±2.09% (93 runs sampled)
Buffer#concat x 1,832,307 ops/sec ±1.20% (90 runs sampled)
Fastest is Buffer#concat
NewBuffer#copy x 5,987,167 ops/sec ±0.85% (94 runs sampled)
OldBuffer#copy x 3,892,165 ops/sec ±1.28% (93 runs sampled)
Buffer#copy x 11,208,889 ops/sec ±0.76% (91 runs sampled)
Fastest is Buffer#copy
NewBuffer#readDoubleBE x 1,057,233 ops/sec ±1.28% (88 runs sampled)
OldBuffer#readDoubleBE x 4,094 ops/sec ±1.09% (86 runs sampled)
Buffer#readDoubleBE x 1,587,308 ops/sec ±0.87% (84 runs sampled)
Fastest is Buffer#readDoubleBE
NewBuffer#new x 739,791 ops/sec ±0.89% (89 runs sampled)
Uint8Array#new x 2,745,243 ops/sec ±0.95% (91 runs sampled)
OldBuffer#new x 2,604,537 ops/sec ±0.93% (88 runs sampled)
Buffer#new x 1,836,218 ops/sec ±0.74% (92 runs sampled)
Fastest is Uint8Array#new
NewBuffer#readFloatBE x 1,111,263 ops/sec ±0.41% (97 runs sampled)
OldBuffer#readFloatBE x 4,026 ops/sec ±1.24% (90 runs sampled)
Buffer#readFloatBE x 1,611,800 ops/sec ±0.58% (96 runs sampled)
Fastest is Buffer#readFloatBE
NewBuffer#readUInt32LE x 502,024 ops/sec ±0.59% (94 runs sampled)
OldBuffer#readUInt32LE x 1,259,028 ops/sec ±0.79% (87 runs sampled)
Buffer#readUInt32LE x 2,778,635 ops/sec ±0.46% (97 runs sampled)
Fastest is Buffer#readUInt32LE
NewBuffer#slice x 1,174,908 ops/sec ±1.47% (89 runs sampled)
OldBuffer#slice x 2,396,302 ops/sec ±4.36% (86 runs sampled)
Buffer#slice x 2,994,029 ops/sec ±0.79% (89 runs sampled)
Fastest is Buffer#slice
NewBuffer#writeFloatBE x 721,081 ops/sec ±1.10% (86 runs sampled)
OldBuffer#writeFloatBE x 4,020 ops/sec ±1.04% (92 runs sampled)
Buffer#writeFloatBE x 1,811,134 ops/sec ±0.67% (91 runs sampled)
Fastest is Buffer#writeFloatBE
MIT License
Copyright (C) 2013 Feross Aboukhadijeh, Romain Beauxis, and other contributors.