Measurements of Symbol Constructor Expressions.
n=10_000_000
ruby 1.8.6 (2008-08-08 patchlevel 286) [i686-linux]:
> /cnu/bin/ruby symbol_benchmark.rb
user system total real
Null Test 0.740000 0.000000 0.740000 ( 0.742914)
'foo_bar' 1.670000 0.000000 1.670000 ( 1.661374)
"foo_bar" 1.620000 0.000000 1.620000 ( 1.625221)
:foo_bar 0.890000 0.000000 0.890000 ( 0.886903)
:'foo_bar' 0.880000 0.000000 0.880000 ( 0.878555)
:"foo_bar" 0.860000 0.000000 0.860000 ( 0.867110)
"foo_bar".to_sym 2.830000 0.000000 2.830000 ( 2.830536)
str.to_sym 2.050000 0.000000 2.050000 ( 2.052756)
:"{str}" 0.880000 0.000000 0.880000 ( 0.881367)
:"foo_#{'bar'}" 0.860000 0.000000 0.860000 ( 0.854944)
"foo_#{'bar'}".to_sym 2.880000 0.000000 2.880000 ( 2.942499)
:"foo_#{bar}" 4.280000 0.000000 4.280000 ( 4.290880)
"foo_#{bar}".to_sym 4.930000 0.000000 4.930000 ( 4.929801)
ruby 1.8.7 (2008-08-11 patchlevel 72) [i486-linux]:
> /usr/bin/ruby symbol_benchmark.rb
user system total real
Null Test 0.780000 0.000000 0.780000 ( 0.782060)
'foo_bar' 3.480000 0.770000 4.250000 ( 4.263535)
"foo_bar" 3.400000 0.820000 4.220000 ( 4.224401)
:foo_bar 2.280000 0.950000 3.230000 ( 3.223590)
:'foo_bar' 2.370000 0.860000 3.230000 ( 3.249133)
:"foo_bar" 2.310000 0.940000 3.250000 ( 3.283796)
"foo_bar".to_sym 5.010000 0.980000 5.990000 ( 6.029690)
str.to_sym 3.740000 0.930000 4.670000 ( 4.706827)
:"{str}" 2.440000 0.810000 3.250000 ( 3.254253)
:"foo_#{'bar'}" 2.470000 0.780000 3.250000 ( 3.245739)
"foo_#{'bar'}".to_sym 4.800000 0.970000 5.770000 ( 5.767003)
:"foo_#{bar}" 7.490000 0.990000 8.480000 ( 8.506735)
"foo_#{bar}".to_sym 8.640000 0.890000 9.530000 ( 9.532481)
ruby 1.9.0 (2008-11-25 revision 20347) [i686-linux]:
> ~/local/ruby/trunk/bin/ruby symbol_benchmark.rb
user system total real
Null Test 0.690000 0.000000 0.690000 ( 0.695087)
'foo_bar' 1.760000 0.000000 1.760000 ( 1.772417)
"foo_bar" 1.780000 0.000000 1.780000 ( 1.772031)
:foo_bar 0.720000 0.000000 0.720000 ( 0.764095)
:'foo_bar' 0.710000 0.000000 0.710000 ( 0.710952)
:"foo_bar" 0.720000 0.000000 0.720000 ( 0.717041)
"foo_bar".to_sym 3.370000 0.000000 3.370000 ( 3.371836)
str.to_sym 2.340000 0.010000 2.350000 ( 2.347026)
:"{str}" 0.720000 0.000000 0.720000 ( 0.723032)
:"foo_#{'bar'}" 0.710000 0.000000 0.710000 ( 0.712813)
"foo_#{'bar'}".to_sym 3.370000 0.020000 3.390000 ( 3.399618)
:"foo_#{bar}" 5.030000 0.000000 5.030000 ( 5.037542)
"foo_#{bar}".to_sym 5.060000 0.010000 5.070000 ( 5.112535)
rubinius 0.10.0 (ruby 1.8.6 compatible) (c458077eb) (12/31/2009) [i686-pc-linux-gnu]:
> ~/local/ruby/rubininus/bin/rbx symbol_benchmark.rb
user system total real
Null Test 2.369585 0.000000 2.369585 ( 2.369602)
'foo_bar' 3.616918 0.000000 3.616918 ( 3.616949)
"foo_bar" 3.672719 0.000000 3.672719 ( 3.672752)
:foo_bar 2.407764 0.000000 2.407764 ( 2.407796)
:'foo_bar' 2.462789 0.000000 2.462789 ( 2.462824)
:"foo_bar" 2.401784 0.000000 2.401784 ( 2.401812)
"foo_bar".to_sym 7.127442 0.000000 7.127442 ( 7.127472)
str.to_sym 15.128944 0.000000 15.128944 ( 15.128974)
:"{str}" 2.411760 0.000000 2.411760 ( 2.411789)
:"foo_#{'bar'}" 2.437595 0.000000 2.437595 ( 2.437629)
"foo_#{'bar'}".to_sym 7.120185 0.000000 7.120185 ( 7.120209)
:"foo_#{bar}" 20.144837 0.000000 20.144837 ( 20.144864)
"foo_#{bar}".to_sym 20.222530 0.000000 20.222530 ( 20.222891)
jruby 1.1.5 (ruby 1.8.6 patchlevel 114) (2008-11-03 rev 7996) [i386-java]:
> ~/local/ruby/jruby-1.1.5/bin/jruby symbol_benchmark.rb
user system total real
Null Test 0.936000 0.000000 0.936000 ( 0.936172)
'foo_bar' 1.886000 0.000000 1.886000 ( 1.886079)
"foo_bar" 1.880000 0.000000 1.880000 ( 1.880344)
:foo_bar 1.379000 0.000000 1.379000 ( 1.379957)
:'foo_bar' 5.842000 0.000000 5.842000 ( 5.842242)
:"foo_bar" 5.834000 0.000000 5.834000 ( 5.833263)
"foo_bar".to_sym 2.597000 0.000000 2.597000 ( 2.597294)
str.to_sym 2.306000 0.000000 2.306000 ( 2.306082)
:"{str}" 5.655000 0.000000 5.655000 ( 5.655672)
:"foo_#{'bar'}" 5.785000 0.000000 5.785000 ( 5.785285)
"foo_#{'bar'}".to_sym 2.585000 0.000000 2.585000 ( 2.584877)
:"foo_#{bar}" 7.532000 0.000000 7.532000 ( 7.531846)
"foo_#{bar}".to_sym 8.361000 0.000000 8.361000 ( 8.360630)
symbol_benchmark.rb:
require 'benchmark'
def bm_expr(x, expr, title = nil)
e = <<"END"
n = 10_000_000
str = 'foo_bar'
bar = 'bar'
#begin; GC.enable; GC.start; GC.disable; rescue nil; end
begin; GC.start; rescue nil; end
x.report(#{(title || expr).inspect}) {
n.times {
#{expr}
}
}
END
eval e
end
Benchmark.bm(25) { | x |
bm_expr x, "", 'Null Test'
bm_expr x, "'foo_bar'"
bm_expr x, '"foo_bar"'
bm_expr x, ':foo_bar'
bm_expr x, ":'foo_bar'"
bm_expr x, ':"foo_bar"'
bm_expr x, '"foo_bar".to_sym'
bm_expr x, 'str.to_sym'
bm_expr x, ':"{str}"'
bm_expr x, ':"foo_#{\'bar\'}"'
bm_expr x, '"foo_#{\'bar\'}".to_sym'
bm_expr x, ':"foo_#{bar}"'
bm_expr x, '"foo_#{bar}".to_sym'
}
First time I ran the benchmarks without forcing and disabling GC :'foo_bar' appeared faster than :foo_bar. Reminder to self: always disable GC around benchmarks, unless you are benchmarking GC.