gistfile1.rb

# ruby 1.8.7 (2009-06-12 patchlevel 174) [i686-darwin10.2.0], MBARI 0x6770, Ruby Enterprise Edition 2009.10
#                        user     system      total        real
# hash lookup:      21.470000   0.120000  21.590000 ( 23.683924)
# method dispatch:  26.980000   0.150000  27.130000 ( 29.014672)

# jruby 1.4.0 (ruby 1.8.7 patchlevel 174) (2010-01-12 6586) (Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM 1.6.0_17) [x86_64-java]
#                        user     system      total        real
# hash lookup:       6.548000   0.000000   6.548000 (  6.548000)
# method dispatch:  10.841000   0.000000  10.841000 ( 10.841000)

require "benchmark"

S = "yay"

class One
  def yay
    S
  end
end
one = One.new

X = {
  :yay => S
}

TESTS = 100_000_000
Benchmark.bmbm do |results|
  results.report("hash lookup:") { TESTS.times { X[:yay] } }
  results.report("method dispatch:") { TESTS.times { one.yay } }
end