javascript - function declaration faster than function expression?

Question

The difference b/w function declaration & function expression is beautifully described in var functionName = function() {} vs function functionName() {}
In this it's mentioned that function declaration is evaluated during parse-time, & function expression is evaluated in the execution-phase

In bytes.com it's mentioned that function declaration is faster than function expression.

I created a basic test case for this: http://jsperf.com/function-declaration-vs-function-expression

Function Declaration:

function myfunc() {
 alert("yo");
}
myfunc();

Function Expression:

var myfunc = function() {
 alert("yo");
}
myfunc();

The test showed that function expression is 90% slower than function declaration.

Why such a difference in speed?

Edit:
From the results in http://jsperf.com/function-declaration-vs-function-expression

In Chrome, IE9, Opera & Safari -> Function Declaration is faster than Function Expression

In Firefox, IE7, IE8 -> Function Expression is faster than Function Declaration

In IE9 Function declaration is faster, whereas in IE 7 & 8 function expression is faster. Is it because of change in JavaScript engine in IE9, or was this move intentional?

Answer 1

Firefox also has non-standard Function Statements, which makes it possible to conditionally choose between function declarations (per spec, you can't). Just using an example of Juriy "kangax" Zaytsev:

if (true) {
    function foo(){ return 1; }
} else {
    function foo(){ return 2; }
}
foo(); // 1
// Note that other clients interpet `foo` as function declaration here, 
// overwriting first `foo` with the second one, and producing "2", not "1" as a result

So those are compiled at execution time, instead of in the parse-phase:

Function statements are NOT declared during variable instantiation. They are declared at run time, just like function expressions.

Other browsers probably will pre-compile function declarations, making them perform faster at run time, but Firefox has to interpret function declarations at run time, causing not much difference between the speed of function declarations and function expressions in Gecko-based browsers.