Date() vs Date().getTime()

Question

What is the difference between using new Date() and new Date().getTime() when subtracting two timestamps? (test script on jsFiddle)

Both of the following gives the same results:

var prev1 = new Date(); setTimeout(function() {     var curr1 = new Date();     var diff1 = curr1 - prev1; }, 500);  var prev2 = new Date().getTime(); setTimeout(function() {     var curr2 = new Date().getTime();     var diff2 = curr2 - prev2; }, 500); 

Is there a reason I should prefer one over another?

Answer 1

I get that it wasn't in your questions, but you may want to consider Date.now() which is fastest because you don't need to instantiate a new Date object, see the following for a comparison of the different versions: http://jsperf.com/date-now-vs-new-date-gettime/8

The above link shows using new Date() is faster than (new Date()).getTime(), but that Date.now() is faster than them all.

Browser support for Date.now() isn't even that bad (IE9+):

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Date/now