JavaScript function for printing a countdown

Question

As part of my project, a game, I have progress bars with countdown timers. These are updated every 250ms, to keep a relatively smooth animation if the countdown time is short.

Here's my function:

var time_format = function(time) {
    var elms, names, ret, i, n;
    elms = [
        time / 29030400,
        time / 2419200 % 12,
        time / 604800 % 4,
        time / 86400 % 7,
        time / 3600 % 24,
        time / 60 % 60,
        time % 60
    ];
    names = "yr mo w d h m s".split(" ");
    ret = [];
    for( i=0; i<elms.length; i++) {
        n = Math.floor(elms[i]);
        if( n) ret.push(n+names[i]);
    }
    ret = ret.join(" ");
    if( ret == "") ret = "0s";
    return ret;
};

I'm just wondering if any optimisations can be made to this code. There may be up to ten progress bars on a single page (after that data is paginated). My main concern is that Math.floor call, is there a faster way to floor a number?

\$\begingroup\$ You cand use n = elms[i] >> 0. Bit operations are faster. \$\endgroup\$

gabitzish
– gabitzish

2012-01-26 13:28:08 +00:00
Commented Jan 26, 2012 at 13:28 — gabitzish
– gabitzish, Commented Jan 26, 2012 at 13:28

jfriend00 · Accepted Answer · 2012-01-25 06:18:19Z

1

Try this:

var time_format = (function() {

    var names = "yr mo w d h m s".split(" ");

    return function(time) {
        var elms, ret, i, n;
        elms = [
            time / 29030400,
            time / 2419200 % 12,
            time / 604800 % 4,
            time / 86400 % 7,
            time / 3600 % 24,
            time / 60 % 60,
            time % 60
        ];
        ret = [];
        for( i=0; i<elms.length; i++) {
            n = elms[i];
            n = n | n;
            if( n) ret.push(n+names[i]);
        }
        ret = ret.join(" ");
        if( ret == "") ret = "0s";
        return ret;
    }
}());

It moves the array initialization out of the function and into a closure so it's only evaluated once.

And, it uses a faster way to do the floor operation. See this article for different ways to do floor and their timing.

answered Jan 25, 2012 at 6:18

jfriend00

3,95815 silver badges21 bronze badges

\$\begingroup\$ Would n = elms[i] ^ 0; work too? I've seen that one used in a few places. \$\endgroup\$

Niet the Dark Absol
– Niet the Dark Absol

2012-01-25 06:21:40 +00:00
Commented Jan 25, 2012 at 6:21
\$\begingroup\$ @Kolink - It seems to work. To characterize it's performance, you'd have to set up a test to measure the speed vs. the other options. \$\endgroup\$

jfriend00
– jfriend00

2012-01-25 06:31:05 +00:00
Commented Jan 25, 2012 at 6:31

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