Explicit vs implicit

explicit-vs-implicit-benchmark.rb

require 'benchmark'

def explicit
  return "TEST"
end

def implicit
  "TEST"
end

def explicit_non_eval
  return 'TEST'
end

def implicit_non_eval
  'TEST'
end

def explicit_symbol
  return :TEST
end

def implicit_symbol
  :TEST
end

n = 100_000_000
Benchmark.bmbm do |x|
  x.report("Explicit \"\"     return") { n.times { explicit } }
  x.report("Implicit \"\"     return") { n.times { implicit } }
  x.report("Explicit ''     return") { n.times { explicit_non_eval } }
  x.report("Implicit ''     return") { n.times { implicit_non_eval } }
  x.report("Explicit symbol return") { n.times { explicit_symbol   } }
  x.report("Implicit symbol return") { n.times { implicit_symbol   } }
end

output.txt

the results

Rehearsal ----------------------------------------------------------
Explicit ""     return  37.810000   0.000000  37.810000 ( 37.889241)
Implicit ""     return  36.300000   0.000000  36.300000 ( 36.310153)
Explicit ''     return  36.460000   0.000000  36.460000 ( 36.476939)
Implicit ''     return  36.520000   0.010000  36.530000 ( 36.541361)
Explicit symbol return  14.330000   0.000000  14.330000 ( 14.352004)
Implicit symbol return  14.330000   0.000000  14.330000 ( 14.322934)
----------------------------------------------- total: 175.760000sec

                             user     system      total        real
Explicit ""     return  37.620000   0.000000  37.620000 ( 37.680337)
Implicit ""     return  36.480000   0.000000  36.480000 ( 36.504694)
Explicit ''     return  36.560000   0.000000  36.560000 ( 36.574798)
Implicit ''     return  36.100000   0.010000  36.110000 ( 36.111328)
Explicit symbol return  14.770000   0.000000  14.770000 ( 14.812874)
Implicit symbol return  14.710000   0.000000  14.710000 ( 14.829556)