How to Read This Book

This book starts by demonstrating simple Ruby and Rails performance optimization tips and tricks. Then you’ll see how to use profiling tools to optimize when simple changes no longer work. You’ll learn how to measure the optimization effect, and how to write tests to ensure the performance does not degrade after the optimization. You’ll also learn to tune up both the deployment infrastructure and the Ruby interpreter itself for optimal performance.

The complexity of material gradually increases as the book goes on. So, if you are new to performance optimization, your best bet would be to read it from start to finish. Otherwise, feel free to skip chapters, or even read in your own order.

At the website for this book^[1] you’ll find the full source code for all the example programs used in this book; an errata page that lists mistakes in the current edition; and a discussion forum, where you can talk to the author and other people interested in Ruby performance optimization.