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JavaScript - implementing Array.prototype.map when handling large datasets in a Node.js application

πŸ‘€ Views: 15 πŸ’¬ Answers: 1 πŸ“… Created: 2025-06-12
javascript node.js performance arrays JavaScript

After trying multiple solutions online, I still can't figure this out. I've been struggling with this for a few days now and could really use some help. Quick question that's been bugging me - I'm experiencing performance optimization when using `Array.prototype.map` on large datasets in my Node.js application. Specifically, when processing an array of 1 million objects, the function takes an unexpectedly long time to complete, and I sometimes receive a `JavaScript heap out of memory` behavior. I've tried increasing the memory limit using `node --max-old-space-size=4096`, but the performance remains sluggish. Here’s a simplified version of my code: ```javascript const data = Array.from({ length: 1000000 }, (_, i) => ({ id: i, value: Math.random() })); const processedData = data.map(item => ({ ...item, squaredValue: item.value ** 2 })); console.log(processedData); ``` The scenario seems to arise mainly when the array is significantly large, and the `map` function returns a new array with additional computed properties. I'm also using Node.js version 14.17.0, and I suspect there might be better approaches to optimize this, especially regarding memory management. Is there a more efficient way to handle large arrays like this, or should I rethink my strategy for processing the data? Any suggestions on optimizing this code or alternative methods for large datasets would be greatly appreciated. My development environment is Ubuntu. What's the best practice here? I'm working on a CLI tool that needs to handle this. What am I doing wrong? This is part of a larger microservice I'm building.