Archive: May 09, 2007

Wednesday, May 9, 2007

1. Labnotes » Buildr, or when Ruby is faster than Java:

   Somewhere in my ever expanding list of drafts I’ll never get to finish is another post about the economics of Ruby, and how raw performance is less of a problem when you’re bound by the database, spend less on development, and can optimize in the large. Basically, regurgitating the same justifications I used to explain Java a decade ago.
   
   But this is not that post.
   
   Today, I’m going to talk about something else, and share with you an interesting discovery from working on Buildr. There will be no language theologies or abstractions of performance, just the facts.

   Off the bat, we downsized 5,443 lines of XML abuse spread over 52 files, into a single build script weighting a measly 485 lines. It’s amazing what a real language, with proper variables and (gasp!) functions and objects, can do.

   Of course, we’re not measuring raw Ruby against pure Java. We’re comparing one implementation against another, where they both do the same thing. Black box equivalent. That’s a real life benchmark.

   We know the Ruby-based solution performs significantly faster, is much more reliable, requires less work to use and maintain, and took all of 3 months from concept to working release.
   
   Ruby might be slow, but what you build with it can be devilish fast.

     ¶ (0) Tags: [Java, Ruby]