High Performance Ruby: Threading versus Evented (Ruby MidWest edition)

I wanted to know, "Do I need to learn about EventMachine or node.js? Can I use threads? What is so good or bad about threading in Ruby 1.8, Ruby 1.9, JRuby and Rubinius 2.0?"
What was important to me was the the choice was abstracted away. I wanted to write normal, step-by-step Ruby code. Yet I wanted it to be performant.
I've asked a lot of people. I even hosted EM RubyConf (http://emrubyconf.com) during RailsConf 2011 in order to gather the brightest minds in the Ruby community.
"What choices do I need to make, how different does my code look, and how do I do testing?" These are the questions I searched for answers.
I'd like to now share the answers.

Transcript

1. High-Performance Ruby:
   Evented vs readed
   @drnic | drnicwilliams.com | engineyard.com
   Dr Nic Williams
   

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2. “ruby
   midwest”
   

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3. “ruby
   midwest”
   

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4. midwest
   

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5. midwest
   

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6. kansas
   

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7. kansas city
   

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8. in Missouri
   

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9. midwest?!
   

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10. an actual
    safari
    

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11.  ________  
    <  Safari  >
     -­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐  
                   \      ^__^
                     \    (xx)\_______
                           (__)\              )\/\
                             ^    ||-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐w  |
                                   ||          ||
    

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12. drnic
    cowsay
    

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14. You have $
    

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15. New project/rapid dev
    Optimise
    (features/$)
    (req latency/$)
    (req thru-put/$)
    (bugs/$)
    

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16. Add resources
    

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17. Resources = $
    $
    

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18. or even $$$$$
    $
    $
    $
    $ $
    

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19. Optimise
    New project/rapid dev
    (features/$)
    (performance/$0)
    how?
    

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21. •Add resources
    •Use resources better
    Options
    

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22. you?
    just write
    code
    

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23. evented
    -> threads
    -> your code
    

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24. nginx
    -> trinidad
    -> web app
    

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25. evented?
    arrange
    I/O
    

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26. threads?
    actual
    work
    

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27. you?
    just write
    code
    

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28. evented
    -> threads
    -> your code
    

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29. nginx
    -> trinidad
    -> web app
    

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30. •Add resources
    •Use resources better
    Options
    

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31. •process concurrency
    •threaded concurrency
    •evented concurrency
    Concurrency
    

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32. Process
    vs
    readed
    

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33. •1 req = 1 process = 150Mb
    •“100 reqs?” = 15Gb!
    •Orchestrated by? Kernel
    •Unicorn, Passenger
    Process
    Concurrency
    

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34. •1 req = 1 thread = 2kb
    •“100 reqs?”=150Mb+200kb
    •Orchestrated by? Kernel
    •Mongrel*
    readed
    Concurrency
    

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35. 1 req =
    1 thread =
    2kb
    

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36. Process
    vs
    readed
    

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37. evented
    -> threads
    -> your code
    

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38. View Slide

39. •....
    •....
    •....
    •Mongrel*
    readed
    Concurrency
    

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40. •....
    •....
    •....
    •Mongrel*
    readed
    Concurrency
    

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41. “Mongrel is
    threaded?!”
    

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43. Mongrel * Rails *
    Ruby1.8 -->
    process conc.
    2006 reality:
    

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44. 20068 reality:
    “Rails 2.2...
    rst...thread
    safe Rails”
    --Pratik Naik
    

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45. 20068 reality:
    config.threadsafe!
    http://guides.rubyonrails.org/configuring.html
    

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46. 20068 reality:
    # do nothing
    http://www.sinatrarb.com/configuration.html
    

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47. Mongrel * Rails *
    Ruby1.8 -->
    process conc.
    20068 reality:
    

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48. 200810 reality:
    “Ruby 1.9.2 is
    released”
    

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49. 200810 reality:
    1.9 has native
    threads!
    

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50. 200810 reality:
    1 thread of
    Ruby at a
    time :(
    

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51. 200810 reality:
    GIL = Global
    Interpreter
    Lock :(
    

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52. 200810 reality:
    GIL:(
    “Grumpy Gil”
    

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53. Mongrel * Rails *
    Ruby1.9 -->
    process conc.
    200810 reality:
    

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54. “Mongrel is
    threaded?!”
    “Rails is
    threadsafe”
    but no threads...
    

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56. “reads
    please!”
    

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57. rvm install jruby
    rvm use jruby
    gem install rails
    rails new myapp
    

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58. gem 'activerecord-
    jdbcsqlite3-
    adapter'
    gem 'jruby-openssl'
    

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59. Mongrel * Rails *
    JRuby -->
    thread
    concurrency!
    

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60. 1 req =
    1 thread =
    2kb
    

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61. “How do I
    run JRuby/
    Rails?”
    

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62. How?
    -> trinidad
    -> web app
    

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63. $ gem install trinidad
    $ trinidad
    --> localhost:3000
    

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64. $ git clone git://
    github.com/
    engineyard/todo.git
    $ cd todo
    $ bundle
    $ rake db:migrate
    $ trinidad
    

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65. # config.threadsafe!
    $ trinidad
    Info: max runtimes = 5
    

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66. config.threadsafe! # yes!
    $ trinidad -e production
    Info: max runtimes = 1
    (Thread limit 200)
    

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67. 1 req =
    1 thread =
    2kb
    

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68. And its just
    normal web
    app code!
    

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69. evented
    -> threads
    -> your code
    

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70. nginx
    -> trinidad
    -> web app
    

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71. “I’m scared
    of threads”
    

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72. Web apps
    are*
    thread safe
    

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73. “Store state elsewhere;
    Unless its safe”
    Dr Nic’s Joy of
    Concurrency
    

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75. evented
    -> threads
    -> your code
    

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76. nginx
    -> trinidad
    -> web app
    

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77. “I came to hear
    good things
    about
    EventMachine”
    

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78. “Evented is cool,
    threads are not”
    

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79. “You haven’t
    said ‘nodejs’
    once!?”
    

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80. What is
    evented?
    any
    I/O?
    do something
    with it
    

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81. cache
    hits
    req ?
    web
    app
    cache
    miss
    

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82. cache
    hits
    req ?
    web
    app
    cache
    miss
    

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83. req I/O work
    

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84. req I/O work
    evented threads
    

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85. req I/O work
    evented threads
    trinidad
    nginx
    

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86. nginx
    vs apache
    

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87. “Hosted?”
    500 hrs free!
    

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88. jruby core
    trinidad core
    rubinius core
    Come work
    with us!
    

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89. -> your code
    “Be a happy
    developer”
    

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90. -> threads
    -> your code
    

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91. evented
    -> threads
    -> your code
    

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92. nginx
    -> trinidad
    -> web app
    @drnic | drnicwilliams.com | engineyard.com
    

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93.  _____________  
    <  Power  Ruby!  >
     -­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐  
                   \      ^__^
                     \    (Oo)\_______
                           (__)\              )\/\
                             <>  ||-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐w  |
                                   ||          ||
    @drnic | drnicwilliams.com | engineyard.com
    

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