Performance slowdown since p5js v0.5.14

[bohnacker]

Since using p5js version 0.5.14 the speed of drawing things slowed down noticably on my machine. I haven't measured but sketches that are drawing a lot of elements are about four times slower.

Am I the only one with this problem? I haven't found any similar issues posted on https://github.com/processing/p5.js/issues.

[b-g]

@generative-design/authors Can everyone please check this ... and tell us the behaviour on their machines? Please use the branch pre-release for testing.

[bohnacker]

I've added v0.5.12, v0.5.14 and 0.5.16 to the libraries folder to make it easier for you to test.

[bohnacker]

And added a test folder.

[joeyklee]

On my machine... macbook pro v10.12

on chrome 63.0.3239.132 (Official Build) (64-bit):

• index-v0.5.12 is the snappiest. Then the current and 0.5.14 are roughly the same.

on firefox 57.0.4 (64-bit):

• index-v0.5.12 performs slightly better than the others. The current and 0.5.14 perform roughly the same.

[bohnacker]

Same here. Tested with chrome 64.0.3282.85 (64-bit) and firefox 57.0.4 (64-bit) on macbook pro with os x 10.12.
p5 v0.5.12 is at least twice as fast than v0.5.14 or 16.

[joeyklee]

Thanks for looking into it @bohnacker ! How do you think we should proceed?

[b-g]

@joeyklee Can you ask via your insider link the p5js dev whether this is a know issue and whether there is a new version coming up addressing this? I couldn't find in any pointers in the release notes ... and @bohnacker said he couldn't find any slow perf issues on the p5 github either.

[joeyklee]

@b-g does it make sense to post to the P5js issues? If so, then I'd reference our issue thread here for reference and then reach out to our contacts. Cool?

[b-g]

@joeyklee please!

[joeyklee]

Please see discussion forming here: processing/p5.js#2549 (comment)

[joeyklee]

@bohnacker I added p5.disableFriendlyErrors = true; to the beginning of the sketch.js in the test. It feels that it does indeed improve the performance. Please give it a try to see if you also notice that there is a speed up.

[bohnacker]

@joeyklee Gave it a try with the test sketch and the frameRate seems again similar to v0.5.12. I'm not sure what to do. It sounds like the new "friendlyErrors" feature would be something that we want to keep for our sketches. Still, for some of the book sketches it would be nicer to have the frameRate as fast as possible.

We should probably pick the sketches by hand where we add this line.

[bohnacker]

Just tried the test sketch with the current verision (0.5.16) of p5.min.js. It is another 10 to 20% faster than the corresponding p5.js. So best would be to switch to the min versions. That also would keep the additional line out of our sketches.
I'll do that and close this issue afterwards.