try.rb

class Object
  def try(*a, &b)
    if a.empty? && block_given?
      if b.arity.zero?
        instance_eval(&b)
      else
        yield self
      end
    else
      public_send(*a, &b) if respond_to?(a.first)
    end
  end

  def try_delegated!(*a, &b)
    if a.empty? && block_given?
      try(*a, &b)
    else
      public_send(*a, &b)
    end
  end

  def try_duplicated!(*a, &b)
    if a.empty? && block_given?
      if b.arity.zero?
        instance_eval(&b)
      else
        yield self
      end
    else
      public_send(*a, &b)
    end
  end
end

class NilClass
  def try(*args)
    nil
  end

  def try_delegated!(*args)
    nil
  end

  def try_duplicated!(*args)
    nil
  end
end

require 'benchmark/ips'

NIL     = nil
NOT_NIL = ''

Benchmark.ips do |x|

  x.report('delegated nil without block')               { NIL.try_delegated!(:length) }
  x.report('duplicated nil without block')              { NIL.try_duplicated!(:length) }
  x.report('delegated nil with instance_evaled block')  { NIL.try_delegated! { length } }
  x.report('duplicated nil with instance_evaled block') { NIL.try_duplicated! { length } }
  x.report('delegated nil with yielded block')          { NIL.try_delegated! { |s| s.length } }
  x.report('duplicated nil with yielded block')         { NIL.try_duplicated! { |s| s.length } }

  x.report('delegated not nil without block')               { NOT_NIL.try_delegated!(:length) }
  x.report('duplicated not nil without block')              { NOT_NIL.try_duplicated!(:length) }
  x.report('delegated not nil with instance_evaled block')  { NOT_NIL.try_delegated! { length } }
  x.report('duplicated not nil with instance_evaled block') { NOT_NIL.try_duplicated! { length } }
  x.report('delegated not nil with yielded block')          { NOT_NIL.try_delegated! { |s| s.length } }
  x.report('duplicated not nil with yielded block')         { NOT_NIL.try_duplicated! { |s| s.length } }

end

Results:

delegated nil without block
                      4810645.8 (±5.6%) i/s -   23980340 in   5.000539s
duplicated nil without block
                      4788780.7 (±5.1%) i/s -   23863320 in   4.997106s
delegated nil with instance_evaled block
                      5376855.2 (±5.3%) i/s -   26809566 in   4.999588s
duplicated nil with instance_evaled block
                      5388146.9 (±5.4%) i/s -   26909952 in   5.008800s
delegated nil with yielded block
                      5346797.7 (±5.9%) i/s -   26710488 in   5.013989s
duplicated nil with yielded block
                      5312825.4 (±5.7%) i/s -   26472428 in   4.999669s
delegated not nil without block
                      3061581.9 (±5.6%) i/s -   15301916 in   5.017537s
duplicated not nil without block
                      3063588.7 (±3.9%) i/s -   15301110 in   5.002198s
delegated not nil with instance_evaled block
                       702804.5 (±12.1%) i/s -    3478140 in   5.013572s
duplicated not nil with instance_evaled block
                       782611.5 (±12.3%) i/s -    3865589 in   5.001701s
delegated not nil with yielded block
                       777353.9 (±13.4%) i/s -    3867036 in   5.048989s
duplicated not nil with yielded block
                       904131.6 (±11.4%) i/s -    4484181 in   5.003097s