BigDecimal constructor performance - string vs numeric

Question

new BigDecimal("10000");
new BigDecimal(10000);

I know the string constructor is used if the number is bigger than the compiler would accept, but are either of the constructors faster than the other?

Answer 1

You can look at source code.

public BigDecimal(int val) {
    intCompact = val;
}

public BigDecimal(String val) {
    this(val.toCharArray(), 0, val.length());
}

public BigDecimal(char[] in, int offset, int len) {
       ...very long
}

Obviously, who is faster.

Answer 2

Passing a String to the constructor of BigDecimal requires a parsing of the String and a check char by char.

Passing an int is faster because it results only in a single assignment.

In any case the time difference is not signifiant.

Here the code of BigDecimal with an int parameter:

public BigDecimal(int val) {
    intCompact = val;
}

The code of BigDecimal constructor with a String calls BigDecimal(char[], int, int) that has around 140 rows of code.