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Everything You Know About the GIL is Wrong by Jerry D'Antonio When a Rubyist hears "concurrency" they usually Google Elixir, Go, or even Node.js. Turns out, Ruby can be great for concurrency! The Global Interpreter Lock (GIL) does NOT prevent Ruby programs from performing concurrently. In this presentation we'll discuss the true meaning of concurrency, explore the inner-workings of the GIL, and gain a deeper understanding of how the GIL effects concurrent programs. Along the way we'll write a bunch of concurrent Ruby code, run it on multiple interpreters, and compare the results. Help us caption & translate this video! http://amara.org/v/H1T6/
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The video titled "Everything You Know About the GIL is Wrong" presented by Jerry D'Antonio at RubyConf 2015 challenges the common perceptions surrounding the Global Interpreter Lock (GIL) in Ruby programming. D'Antonio argues that Ruby can indeed perform well with concurrency and that the GIL is often mischaracterized. ### Key Points Discussed: - **Introduction and Background**: - D'Antonio introduces himself, mentioning his work at Test Double and his creation of the Concurrent Ruby gem. - He highlights the negative reputation of Ruby in the context of concurrency, which claims that Ruby cannot handle concurrent tasks effectively. - **Defining Concurrency vs. Parallelism**: - The speaker clarifies that concurrency involves the composition of independently executing processes, while parallelism refers to simultaneous execution that requires multiple processors. - He emphasizes that concurrent programming allows for improved performance, particularly when I/O operations are involved. - **Understanding GIL**: - The GIL is described as a mechanism to protect Ruby’s internal state during context switches, preventing simultaneous access to resources by multiple threads. - D'Antonio explains how the GIL can prevent true parallelism but ensures the consistency of Ruby’s internal state. - **Performance Comparisons**: - He presents benchmarks comparing serial and concurrent methods using the Yahoo Finance API, demonstrating that MRI Ruby can perform concurrent tasks efficiently under specific conditions. - Despite common beliefs, MRI Ruby outperformed other languages like JRuby in certain concurrent scenarios. - **Handling I/O Operations**: - D'Antonio highlights that Ruby excels in concurrent I/O operations, making it suitable for web applications where managing multiple threads can lead to better performance, even exceeding tenfold improvements. - He discusses how I/O tasks, like file handling and network requests, can be done effectively in Ruby despite the GIL. - **Conclusions**: - To conclude, D'Antonio encourages attendees to shift their perspective on Ruby's concurrency capabilities. - He reiterates that while Ruby may not handle processor-intensive tasks as well due to the GIL, its ability to manage concurrent I/O is a significant advantage. - The talk reinforces the message that the narrative around the GIL should evolve to reflect Ruby's actual strengths, thus inviting developers to embrace Ruby's concurrency tools.
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