hossain-khan · hossain-khan · Jun 9, 2025 · Jun 9, 2025 · Jun 9, 2025 · Jun 9, 2025
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
-# JSON5 vs JSON Performance Benchmark
+# JSON5 Performance Benchmark - Three-way Comparison
 
-This module provides benchmarking tools to compare the performance of JSON5 serialization/deserialization against standard JSON using kotlinx.serialization.
+This module provides benchmarking tools to compare the performance of JSON5 serialization/deserialization across three different implementations:
+
+1. **JSON5** (this project) - Uses kotlinx.serialization  
+2. **JSON** (kotlinx.serialization) - Standard JSON baseline
+3. **External-JSON5** (at.syntaxerror.json5:2.1.0) - External JSON5 library
 
 ## Running the Benchmark
 
@@ -27,9 +31,9 @@ The benchmark generates two types of reports:
 
 ### Summary Report
 - File: `benchmark_summary_YYYY-MM-DD_HH-mm-ss.txt`
-- Contains human-readable performance comparisons
-- Shows which format is faster and by how much
-- Includes overall statistics
+- Contains human-readable performance comparisons across all three libraries
+- Shows relative performance comparisons between each pair of libraries
+- Includes overall statistics and rankings
 
 ## Test Data Types
 
@@ -59,39 +63,37 @@ To run the benchmark module tests:
 
 ## Sample Results
 
-Based on typical runs, JSON standard library generally performs 2-6x faster than JSON5 for both serialization and deserialization, with the performance gap being larger for more complex data structures.
+Based on typical runs across the three libraries:
+
+- **JSON** (kotlinx.serialization) is consistently the fastest
+- **External-JSON5** performs better than this project's JSON5 implementation  
+- **JSON5** (this project) offers kotlinx.serialization integration but with slower performance
 
 Example output:
 ```
-SimplePerson Serialization: JSON5=0.027ms, JSON=0.013ms
-ComplexPerson Serialization: JSON5=0.083ms, JSON=0.015ms  
-Company Serialization: JSON5=0.200ms, JSON=0.032ms
+SimplePerson Serialization: JSON5=0.028ms, JSON=0.010ms, External-JSON5=0.011ms
+ComplexPerson Serialization: JSON5=0.073ms, JSON=0.018ms, External-JSON5=0.018ms  
+Company Serialization: JSON5=0.163ms, JSON=0.031ms, External-JSON5=0.054ms
 ```
 
 ### Benchmark Result Snapshot
 
-| Case                | Type            | JSON5 Avg (ms) | JSON Avg (ms) | Speedup (JSON) |
-| ------------------- | --------------- | -------------- | ------------- | -------------- |
-| SimplePerson        | Serialization   | 0.056          | 0.020         | 2.77×          |
-| SimplePerson        | Deserialization | 0.064          | 0.022         | 2.93×          |
-| ComplexPerson       | Serialization   | 0.089          | 0.019         | 4.59×          |
-| ComplexPerson       | Deserialization | 0.113          | 0.030         | 3.76×          |
-| Company             | Serialization   | 0.226          | 0.059         | 3.81×          |
-| Company             | Deserialization | 0.254          | 0.090         | 2.83×          |
-| NumberTypes         | Serialization   | 0.032          | 0.003         | 9.43×          |
-| NumberTypes         | Deserialization | 0.021          | 0.003         | 6.60×          |
-| CollectionTypes     | Serialization   | 0.067          | 0.009         | 7.41×          |
-| CollectionTypes     | Deserialization | 0.059          | 0.025         | 2.37×          |
-| SimplePersonList100 | Serialization   | 0.153          | 0.042         | 3.64×          |
-| SimplePersonList100 | Deserialization | 0.234          | 0.039         | 5.99×          |
-| ComplexPersonList50 | Serialization   | 0.388          | 0.059         | 6.59×          |
-| ComplexPersonList50 | Deserialization | 0.452          | 0.089         | 5.09×          |
-
-**Overall Average Time**
-
-* JSON5: **0.158 ms**
-* JSON: **0.036 ms**
-* 🔥 Overall: **KotlinX JSON is 4.33× faster than JSON5**
-
-
-<img width="800" alt="benchmark bar chart" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/bcf44217-827b-49a1-a18b-4a0f7fedc103" />
+| Case                | Type            | JSON5 (ms) | JSON (ms) | External-JSON5 (ms) | Performance Ranking |
+| ------------------- | --------------- | ---------- | --------- | ------------------- | ------------------- |
+| SimplePerson        | Serialization   | 0.028      | 0.010     | 0.011               | JSON > Ext-JSON5 > JSON5 |
+| SimplePerson        | Deserialization | 0.049      | 0.014     | 0.017               | JSON > Ext-JSON5 > JSON5 |
+| ComplexPerson       | Serialization   | 0.073      | 0.018     | 0.018               | JSON ≈ Ext-JSON5 > JSON5 |
+| ComplexPerson       | Deserialization | 0.101      | 0.021     | 0.020               | Ext-JSON5 > JSON > JSON5 |
+| Company             | Serialization   | 0.163      | 0.031     | 0.054               | JSON > Ext-JSON5 > JSON5 |
+| Company             | Deserialization | 0.200      | 0.081     | 0.117               | JSON > Ext-JSON5 > JSON5 |
+
+**Overall Performance Comparison:**
+- **JSON** is **3.90×** faster than **JSON5** and **2.75×** faster than **External-JSON5**
+- **External-JSON5** is **1.42×** faster than **JSON5**
+
+## Key Insights
+
+- **kotlinx.serialization JSON** remains the performance leader
+- **External JSON5 library** provides a good balance of JSON5 features with reasonable performance  
+- **This project's JSON5** offers seamless kotlinx.serialization integration but at a performance cost
+- Choose based on your priorities: performance (JSON), JSON5 features with good performance (External-JSON5), or kotlinx.serialization integration (this project)
@@ -11,6 +11,9 @@ dependencies {
 
     // kotlinx.serialization for JSON comparison
     implementation(libs.bundles.kotlinxEcosystem)
+
+    // External JSON5 library for comparison
+    implementation("at.syntaxerror:json5:2.1.0")
 
     // Test dependencies
     testImplementation(kotlin("test"))

@@ -117,16 +117,35 @@ object BenchmarkRunner {
 
                 val json5Result = resultList.find { it.format == "JSON5" }
                 val jsonResult = resultList.find { it.format == "JSON" }
+                val externalJson5Result = resultList.find { it.format == "External-JSON5" }
 
-                if (json5Result != null && jsonResult != null) {
-                    appendLine("  JSON5: ${String.format("%.3f", json5Result.averageTimeMillis)} ms avg")
-                    appendLine("  JSON:  ${String.format("%.3f", jsonResult.averageTimeMillis)} ms avg")
+                if (json5Result != null && jsonResult != null && externalJson5Result != null) {
+                    appendLine("  JSON5:         ${String.format("%.3f", json5Result.averageTimeMillis)} ms avg")
+                    appendLine("  JSON:          ${String.format("%.3f", jsonResult.averageTimeMillis)} ms avg")
+                    appendLine("  External-JSON5: ${String.format("%.3f", externalJson5Result.averageTimeMillis)} ms avg")
 
-                    val speedup = json5Result.averageTimeMillis / jsonResult.averageTimeMillis
-                    if (speedup > 1.0) {
-                        appendLine("  → JSON is ${String.format("%.2f", speedup)}x faster than JSON5")
+                    // Compare all libraries
+                    val json5VsJson = json5Result.averageTimeMillis / jsonResult.averageTimeMillis
+                    val externalVsJson = externalJson5Result.averageTimeMillis / jsonResult.averageTimeMillis
+                    val json5VsExternal = json5Result.averageTimeMillis / externalJson5Result.averageTimeMillis
+
+                    appendLine("  Comparisons:")
+                    if (json5VsJson > 1.0) {
+                        appendLine("    → JSON is ${String.format("%.2f", json5VsJson)}x faster than JSON5")
+                    } else {
+                        appendLine("    → JSON5 is ${String.format("%.2f", 1.0 / json5VsJson)}x faster than JSON")
+                    }
+
+                    if (externalVsJson > 1.0) {
+                        appendLine("    → JSON is ${String.format("%.2f", externalVsJson)}x faster than External-JSON5")
+                    } else {
+                        appendLine("    → External-JSON5 is ${String.format("%.2f", 1.0 / externalVsJson)}x faster than JSON")
+                    }
+
+                    if (json5VsExternal > 1.0) {
+                        appendLine("    → External-JSON5 is ${String.format("%.2f", json5VsExternal)}x faster than JSON5")
                     } else {
-                        appendLine("  → JSON5 is ${String.format("%.2f", 1.0 / speedup)}x faster than JSON")
+                        appendLine("    → JSON5 is ${String.format("%.2f", 1.0 / json5VsExternal)}x faster than External-JSON5")
                     }
                 }
                 appendLine()
@@ -136,18 +155,37 @@ object BenchmarkRunner {
             appendLine("Overall Statistics:")
             val json5Results = results.filter { it.format == "JSON5" }
             val jsonResults = results.filter { it.format == "JSON" }
+            val externalJson5Results = results.filter { it.format == "External-JSON5" }
 
             val avgJson5Time = json5Results.map { it.averageTimeMillis }.average()
             val avgJsonTime = jsonResults.map { it.averageTimeMillis }.average()
+            val avgExternalJson5Time = externalJson5Results.map { it.averageTimeMillis }.average()
 
-            appendLine("Average JSON5 time: ${String.format("%.3f", avgJson5Time)} ms")
-            appendLine("Average JSON time:  ${String.format("%.3f", avgJsonTime)} ms")
+            appendLine("Average JSON5 time:         ${String.format("%.3f", avgJson5Time)} ms")
+            appendLine("Average JSON time:          ${String.format("%.3f", avgJsonTime)} ms")
+            appendLine("Average External-JSON5 time: ${String.format("%.3f", avgExternalJson5Time)} ms")
+
+            val json5VsJson = avgJson5Time / avgJsonTime
+            val externalVsJson = avgExternalJson5Time / avgJsonTime
+            val json5VsExternal = avgJson5Time / avgExternalJson5Time
+
+            appendLine("\nOverall Comparisons:")
+            if (json5VsJson > 1.0) {
+                appendLine("  → JSON is ${String.format("%.2f", json5VsJson)}x faster than JSON5")
+            } else {
+                appendLine("  → JSON5 is ${String.format("%.2f", 1.0 / json5VsJson)}x faster than JSON")
+            }
+
+            if (externalVsJson > 1.0) {
+                appendLine("  → JSON is ${String.format("%.2f", externalVsJson)}x faster than External-JSON5")
+            } else {
+                appendLine("  → External-JSON5 is ${String.format("%.2f", 1.0 / externalVsJson)}x faster than JSON")
+            }
 
-            val overallSpeedup = avgJson5Time / avgJsonTime
-            if (overallSpeedup > 1.0) {
-                appendLine("Overall: JSON is ${String.format("%.2f", overallSpeedup)}x faster than JSON5")
+            if (json5VsExternal > 1.0) {
+                appendLine("  → External-JSON5 is ${String.format("%.2f", json5VsExternal)}x faster than JSON5")
             } else {
-                appendLine("Overall: JSON5 is ${String.format("%.2f", 1.0 / overallSpeedup)}x faster than JSON")
+                appendLine("  → JSON5 is ${String.format("%.2f", 1.0 / json5VsExternal)}x faster than External-JSON5")
             }
         }
 
@@ -161,9 +199,10 @@ object BenchmarkRunner {
             val (dataType, operation) = key.split("_")
             val json5Result = resultList.find { it.format == "JSON5" }
             val jsonResult = resultList.find { it.format == "JSON" }
+            val externalJson5Result = resultList.find { it.format == "External-JSON5" }
 
-            if (json5Result != null && jsonResult != null) {
-                println("$dataType $operation: JSON5=${String.format("%.3f", json5Result.averageTimeMillis)}ms, JSON=${String.format("%.3f", jsonResult.averageTimeMillis)}ms")
+            if (json5Result != null && jsonResult != null && externalJson5Result != null) {
+                println("$dataType $operation: JSON5=${String.format("%.3f", json5Result.averageTimeMillis)}ms, JSON=${String.format("%.3f", jsonResult.averageTimeMillis)}ms, External-JSON5=${String.format("%.3f", externalJson5Result.averageTimeMillis)}ms")
             }
         }
     }

@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import kotlinx.serialization.encodeToString
 import kotlinx.serialization.decodeFromString
 import kotlinx.serialization.serializer
 import kotlin.system.measureNanoTime
+import at.syntaxerror.json5.*
 
 /**
  * Benchmark class for comparing JSON5 and standard JSON performance.
@@ -38,6 +39,35 @@ class SerializationBenchmark {
         }
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Converts a kotlinx.serialization object to a plain object that can be used with the external JSON5 library.
+     * This is done by serializing to JSON with kotlinx.serialization and then parsing with external JSON5 library.
+     */
+    private fun <T> convertToPlainObject(data: T, serializer: kotlinx.serialization.SerializationStrategy<T>): Any? {
+        val jsonString = json.encodeToString(serializer, data)
+        val parser = JSONParser(jsonString)
+        return parser.nextValue()
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Converts a JSON5 string to a plain object using the external JSON5 library.
+     */
+    private fun parseWithExternalLibrary(json5String: String): Any? {
+        val parser = JSONParser(json5String)
+        return parser.nextValue()
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Converts a plain object to JSON5 string using the external JSON5 library.
+     */
+    private fun stringifyWithExternalLibrary(obj: Any?): String {
+        return when (obj) {
+            is JSONObject -> JSONStringify.toString(obj, 0)
+            is JSONArray -> JSONStringify.toString(obj, 0)
+            else -> obj?.toString() ?: "null"
+        }
+    }
+
     /**
      * Runs serialization benchmark for the given data and serializer.
      */
@@ -89,6 +119,27 @@ class SerializationBenchmark {
             )
         )
 
+        // Benchmark external JSON5 library serialization
+        val externalJson5Object = convertToPlainObject(data, serializer)
+        val externalJson5SerializationTime = measureNanoTime {
+            repeat(iterations) {
+                stringifyWithExternalLibrary(externalJson5Object)
+            }
+        }
+
+        results.add(
+            BenchmarkResult(
+                operation = "Serialization",
+                dataType = dataTypeName,
+                format = "External-JSON5",
+                iterations = iterations,
+                totalTimeNanos = externalJson5SerializationTime,
+                averageTimeNanos = externalJson5SerializationTime / iterations,
+                averageTimeMicros = (externalJson5SerializationTime / iterations) / 1000.0,
+                averageTimeMillis = (externalJson5SerializationTime / iterations) / 1_000_000.0
+            )
+        )
+
         return results
     }
 
@@ -144,6 +195,26 @@ class SerializationBenchmark {
             )
         )
 
+        // Benchmark external JSON5 library deserialization
+        val externalJson5DeserializationTime = measureNanoTime {
+            repeat(iterations) {
+                parseWithExternalLibrary(json5String)
+            }
+        }
+
+        results.add(
+            BenchmarkResult(
+                operation = "Deserialization",
+                dataType = dataTypeName,
+                format = "External-JSON5",
+                iterations = iterations,
+                totalTimeNanos = externalJson5DeserializationTime,
+                averageTimeNanos = externalJson5DeserializationTime / iterations,
+                averageTimeMicros = (externalJson5DeserializationTime / iterations) / 1000.0,
+                averageTimeMillis = (externalJson5DeserializationTime / iterations) / 1_000_000.0
+            )
+        )
+
         return results
     }
 

@@ -45,18 +45,22 @@ class BenchmarkTest {
         assertNotNull(results)
         assertTrue(results.isNotEmpty())
 
-        // Should have 4 results: JSON5 and JSON for both serialization and deserialization
-        assertEquals(4, results.size)
+        // Should have 6 results: JSON5, JSON, and External-JSON5 for both serialization and deserialization
+        assertEquals(6, results.size)
 
         val json5SerializationResult = results.find { it.format == "JSON5" && it.operation == "Serialization" }
         val jsonSerializationResult = results.find { it.format == "JSON" && it.operation == "Serialization" }
+        val externalJson5SerializationResult = results.find { it.format == "External-JSON5" && it.operation == "Serialization" }
         val json5DeserializationResult = results.find { it.format == "JSON5" && it.operation == "Deserialization" }
         val jsonDeserializationResult = results.find { it.format == "JSON" && it.operation == "Deserialization" }
+        val externalJson5DeserializationResult = results.find { it.format == "External-JSON5" && it.operation == "Deserialization" }
 
         assertNotNull(json5SerializationResult)
         assertNotNull(jsonSerializationResult)
+        assertNotNull(externalJson5SerializationResult)
         assertNotNull(json5DeserializationResult)
         assertNotNull(jsonDeserializationResult)
+        assertNotNull(externalJson5DeserializationResult)
 
         // Verify basic properties
         assertEquals("TestPerson", json5SerializationResult!!.dataType)

@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ plugins {
 }
 
 kotlin {
-    jvmToolchain(21) // Changed from 23 to 21
+    jvmToolchain(17) // Use Java 17 to match available JVM
 }
 
 dependencies {