I strongly suggest measuring your application’s performance before you change anything and then again after each change.
Optimize Ruby code; use the built-in classes and methods when available rather than developing your own.
Reduce nested if/else, loops, and hashes if possible; all of these operations are really expensive, and sometimes just refactoring your code can reduce the need.
Don’t be afraid of using features of your database; for example, define stored procedures and functions, knowing that you can use them by communicating directly with the database through driver calls rather than ActiveRecord high-level methods. Implementing this technique can greatly enhance the performance of a data-bound Rails application.
It involves storing content generated during the request-response cycle and reusing it when responding to similar requests, effectively boosting the application’s speed. When you repeatedly request identical data throughout the processing of a single request and class-level caching isn’t feasible due to data dependency on request parameters, consider caching the data to prevent redundant computations.
Memoization involves caching the result of a method so subsequent calls to the method return the cached result, saving processing time. It is a type of caching focused on storing function return values. However, keep in mind that Memoization should be avoided in some cases, for example, when a function is going to change over time and your business logic relies on the latest value.
You can learn more about memoization here: A guide to memoization in Ruby.
Detecting and avoiding code smells
Avoiding code duplication, unused variables, or method arguments, and detecting code smells with the use of a static code analyzer such as [Rubocop](https://github.com/rubocop/rubocop) and RubyCritic](https://rubygems.org/gems/rubycritic/versions/2.9.1).
Use HTML in your view templates and avoid excessive use of helpers. When utilizing form helpers, be mindful that they add an extra layer of processing.
Keep your Ruby version updated.
Manage your controllers wisely; filters can be costly, so avoid overusing them. Additionally, be mindful of using excessive instance variables that your view doesn’t genuinely need; they can significantly impact performance.
Avoid unnecessary gems. Only include gems that are genuinely required for your application. This reduces potential conflicts and keeps your application leaner.
Keep your gems up to date to benefit from bug fixes, security patches, and new features. However, test thoroughly after updates to avoid compatibility issues.
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