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Spork by: Tim C. Harper Help us caption & translate this video! http://amara.org/v/G1XE/
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In the presentation titled 'Spork' by Tim C. Harper at the LoneStarRuby Conf 2009, the speaker addresses the challenge of long test cycle times in Ruby applications using RSpec and Cucumber frameworks. The speaker explains how these applications take approximately 15 seconds to start due to the extensive loading of gems and dependencies, which is a significant bottleneck when testing code. To mitigate this issue, Tim Harper introduces 'Spork', a tool developed to fork a copy of the process and run specs without corrupting the state of the tests. This approach allows for faster test execution while maintaining the integrity of the loading process. Key aspects of the presentation include: - **Problem Identification**: The long startup time of 15 seconds and the unreliability of the Spec Server due to Rails constant unloading issues. - **Solution - Spork**: By forking the process, libraries can be loaded once, and the fork can be discarded after running the tests, preventing corruption and speeding up the process significantly. - **Demo of RSpec Setup**: The speaker demonstrates setting up RSpec with Spork and demonstrates how code changes can influence testing speeds depending on how the pre-fork and each-run blocks are configured. - **Performance Improvement**: The demo shows a dramatic reduction in execution time from over seven seconds to approximately 0.816 seconds after implementing Spork, highlighting the effectiveness of this tool in improving test speed. - **Versatility of Spork**: Tim emphasizes that Spork is not limited to RSpec and Cucumber; it can also support other testing frameworks like Test Unit and is compatible with Merb. The session concludes with an invitation for questions, emphasizing the importance of fast specifications for productive development. Spork proves to be a valuable tool for developers looking to optimize their testing workflow and reduce feedback loops.
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