[Rails Tip] Run Specs Faster!

If you are using rake spec to run the specs. Try using spec spec instead! It avoids doing some preliminary tasks and therefore is quicker to execute.

You can verify the difference using Unix’s time command, i.e. time spec spec and time rake spec.

Browser JavaScript and DOM Benchmark Tests: Firefox, Minefield, Safari, Webkit, Chrome, Chromium and Opera 10.5

Today Opera has released its latest and greatest version of Opera browser 10.5 Beta for Mac. It features speed enhancement as well as a unified Cocoa interface. Just how speedy is it exactly? Let’s test it out against other major browsers.

The benchmarks were run on my Macbook Pro (OS X 10.6.2, 2.53GHz CPU, 4GB RAM). I have performed three benchmark tests from Dromaeo - All JavaScript Tests, DOM Core Tests and JavaScript Library Tests. The following browsers are used:

  • Firefox 3.6
  • Minefield (Latest Firefox Nightly)
  • Safari 4.0.4
  • WebKit Latest Nightly
  • Chrome 5.0 Beta
  • Chromium Latest Nightly
  • Opera 10.5 Beta 1

The benchmark result (the higher the better):

Opera is smoking fast for pure JavaScript execution, on the other hand its DOM performance is significant lower than its competitors.

Very interesting result, hey? ;)