Decimal.sum with large arrays exceeds the maximum call stack size

[mgkalogirou]

Problem

The current implementation of the Decimal.sum function requires spreading the array contents, which may lead to exceeding the maximum call stack size for large arrays. This results in a breaking point, and the function fails for arrays around 70k elements.

Expected Behaviour

The Decimal.sum function should be modified to accept an array directly, rather than relying on spreading the array contents so that large arrays can be summed.

Steps to Reproduce

Create a large array, for example:

const bigArray: number[] = Array.from({ length: 100e3 }).fill(1) as number[];

Attempt to use Decimal.sum with the large array:

const decimalSum = Decimal.sum(...bigArray);

Environment

decimal.js: ^10.4.3
Node.js version: v18.17.1
TypeScript version: 5.2.2

[nilaygit-10721]

can you assign this issue?

[nilaygit-10721]

/attempt

[josdejong]

You can easily write your own version of sum, like:

function sum(array) {
  return array.reduce((total, value) => total.add(value))
}

[heikomat]

Beware that when you call Decimal.sum(...bigArray), you're effectively calling sum with 100'000'000 arguments.

The issue you're seeing could very well be a limit of how many arguments you can pass to a function, instead of being an issue with this library.

According to this StackOverflow-Answer (from 2014) and this blog-post (from 2021), the limit for V8 and JavaScriptCore seems to be at about 65k arguments. More than that, and those engines will throw a "Maximum call stack size exceeded" error

Update: Sorry for not reading your initial issue fully before posting. It seems you're aware of what is actually the problem