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Apple just released a brand new, gorgeous looking Mac mini. This major upgrade brings us two different models: a desktop one and a server version (priced at $699 and $999, respectively).

Equipped with a HDMI port, the desktop edition of the Mac mini makes for a perfect Home Theater PC. It’s small and stylish, and as such is a great fit in your living room. Most of the reviews I’ve read focus on its use as a highly capable HTPC (despite its lack of a Blu-Ray drive).

However, I see the new Mac Mini in a different light. At $700 it is far too expensive for a HTPC, yet it’s ideal as an entry-level machine for web, Mac, and iOS development (it’s almost as cheap as a Hackintosh, minus the headache).

Mac Minis will do the job and be more than capable thanks to their adequate, albeit not spectacular, hardware specs. If my MacBook Pro were to die today, I would definitely consider purchasing one for development purposes. Would you?

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This article showcases the results of a small Ruby shootout for Mac. I plan to publish a Windows one by next week, and then a week or two after that, a complete Linux shootout that will have many more implementations. Grab my feed or join the newsletter to avoid missing upcoming shootout posts.

The setup

The tests are a large subset of the Ruby Benchmark Suite. Each test was run 10 times, five to detect the best execution time, and five to detect the minimal memory consumption. All of the tests were run on Mac OS X 10.6.3, on my MacBook Pro 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3 RAM, 320 GB 7200 rpm disk.

Stable implementations tested:

• MacRuby 0.6
• Ruby 1.8.7
• Ruby 1.9.1

Disclaimer

Synthetic benchmarks cannot predict how fast your programs will be with one implementation or another. They provide an (entertaining) educated guess, but you shouldn’t draw overly definitive conclusions from them. Furthermore, the Ruby Benchmark Suite has many tests that don’t provide much insight when it comes to comparing implementations. They are there for legacy reasons and will probably be removed in the future. For the time being, take them with a grain of salt.

The results

Without further hesitation, here are the execution times for the tests (divided in A-L, M-Z). Timeouts indicate that the execution of a single run took more than 60 seconds and had to be interrupted. Bold values indicate the best performance for each test.

And here is the estimated memory usage:

Conclusions

MacRuby 0.6 is faster than Ruby 1.9.1 at times, but it can also be significantly slower. Overall, as things stand now, its performance appears to be between that of Ruby 1.9.1 and Ruby 1.8.7, with several outliers and a greater variance compared to those two implementations. Memory wise, MacRuby appears to be significantly more “memory hungry” than the other implementations (even though this wasn’t all that much of a surprise to me).

I’m interested in seeing how future releases that will be focused more on performance will affect these preliminary results. For the time being however, don’t let this outcome discourage you from using MacRuby 0.6, which is the first release that’s considered stable for Mac OS X development.

Download: CSV Files

PS: If you are looking for a fun and easy way to get started with MacRuby, check out ThinkCode.TV’s screencast on the subject.

Update (July 3, 2010): The following box plot compares the various implementations for the tests for which all the implementations were successful. Only times for the largest successful input number were used in those tests where multiple input numbers were tested.

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What is uncertain is whether this release is going to be much ado about nothing or more an event that will revolutionize the computer market.

Among the iPad shortcomings are the following:

• A somewhat embarrassing name;
• Lack of Flash support;
• Inability to multitask (exception made for some Apple built-in apps);
• Software restrictions due to DRM;
• Lack of webcam;
• Lack of USB ports;
• Not as portable as an iPod, iPhone or a tablets a la Nokia N900;
• Not ideal for long typing sessions, due to a virtual keyboard (even though an external keyboard can be purchased as an optional accessory).

Your first impression might be that we are dealing with a flop like the Apple TV or similar niche products that are popular with Apple fans, but lack the transformational power and impact on society that have been shown by the iPod or the iPhone.

Much of the iPad’s criticism comes from a fundamental misunderstanding of the target use of this product. Those who consider the iPad a replacement for their laptop will no doubt be disappointed by the performance and restrictions of this device.

One also needs to take into consideration the iPad’s target audience. Many assumed that the target audience was primarily composed of geeky early adopters, programmers, and more in general, people with a technical mindset.

Far from telling my readers that they shouldn’t indulge in the prohibited pleasure of possessing an iPad, it seems clear to me that the Gaussian function has its maximum elsewhere, amongst students, casual users, and the general public, who want a device from which to check their email, surf, and play from their couch, kitchen or local coffee shop. A computing device that is small enough to carry in a purse, but large enough (with its 9.7" diagonal) to easily display websites and applications, without causing one to squint their eyes.

Seen in this light, the iPad has a solid reason for being, despite all of its limitations. Imagine a computer that is accessible and easy to use, and doesn’t require IT support from your nephew to fix (or remove a virus). In other words, a portable device that simply works. It only does a few things, but it does them in a manner that provides a pleasant experience to the average user.

The iPad’s field of application isn’t very restricted either. It can be seen as a portable console for casual gaming, a digital frame to show photos set to a soundtrack, or a quick presentation tool at a small business meeting. It’s a multimedia tool for listening to music and watching videos and lectures. Finally, the iPad is also a magazine and ebook reader. Some may rightfully argue that the e-ink technology is easier on the eyes for extensive reading, but the iPad has a vibrant color screen, and is able to display complex PDFs as well as ePub books sold directly from the brand new iBookstore.

The design, as is customary for products designed by Jonatahn Ive, is minimalistic, sleek and easy on the eyes. Starting at $499 (as shown in the figure below), the price point is rather competitive, so as to be able to reach a wide, international audience.

All things considered, it’s easy to imagine that the iPad will be a commercial success with the potential to transform how millions of consumers approach the Internet, gaming and book reading. This is far from certain, but I suspect that the iPad will be the iPod of the laptop world.

My suspicion is further supported by the ecosystem that surrounds this form of lightweight computing. Teachers will love the possibilities that such a device opens up, where students can now have a more interactive and multimedia-driven experience (particularly if ad hoc applications are created for this).

Book and magazine publishers already love the idea of selling books through the iBookstore, a refuge from the totalitarian price policies imposed by Amazon. This could in turn, really increase publishers’ investment in the digital world.

Programmers will be able to explore new ideas and create applications that are specifically tailored to the iPad user interface and user experience. The many advantages, and few disadvantages, of this approach are well known thanks to the iPod Touch and iPhone experience.

While restrictions are obviously limiting, they can also foster creativity. Among a sea of silly gag applications, there were also truly innovative apps designed for the iPhone. I would expect nothing less from applications developed using the same tools and distributed through the same channels, but targeted to a device that has much larger screen and processing capabilities.

Personally, I don’t know if I will purchase an iPad or not, after all I spend far too many hours in front of a traditional laptop already. But I clearly see a brilliant future for this new Apple product, despite its limitations and the closed approach to hardware and software that has become typical of Cupertino’s company.

What about you, are you headed to the Apple Store?

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The most important new feature is the presence of a compiler. That’s right, thanks to this release, Ruby code can now become highly optimized executable code. How awesome is that? I can sense that you’re pumped by this news, so why not head over to MacRuby.com and download the installation file for yourself? After you’ve done that, the next thing you’re going to want to do is run a small test like the following:

$ macrubyc world_domination.rb -o world_domination
Can't locate program `llc'

Oh noes! llc is a tool that ships with the LLVM (upon which MacRuby is built), however it’s not included with MacRuby’s installer (it will be in the future). But fear not my friends, there is a solution:

$ svn co -r 82747 https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/llvm/trunk llvm-trunk
$ cd llvm-trunk
$ ./configure
$ UNIVERSAL=1 UNIVERSAL_ARCH="i386 x86_64" ENABLE_OPTIMIZED=1 make -j2
$ sudo env UNIVERSAL=1 UNIVERSAL_ARCH="i386 x86_64" ENABLE_OPTIMIZED=1 make install

If your machine does not have 2 cores, remove the -j2 option from the fourth line or adjust the number accordingly.

The compilation phase may take a couple of centuries, depending on your machine’s speed, but it should eventually build the LLVM. llc will be placed in your PATH, and you’ll finally be able to compile Ruby code and obtain an executable to help you carry out your world domination plans.

$ macrubyc world_domination.rb -o world_domination
$ ./world_domination
MUAHAHAHAHA!

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$ sudo -s
$ export IBM_DB_LIB=/Users/<username>/sqllib/lib64
$ export IBM_DB_INCLUDE=/Users/<username>/sqllib/include
$ export ARCHFLAGS="-arch x86_64"
$ gem install ibm_db

You can verify that the installation was successful my running the following:

$ irb
>> require 'ibm_db.bundle'
=> true

Please let me know if you encounter any issues, I’d be glad to help you.

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The installation was pretty much automatic and took roughly an hour. No versions to select from, no serial numbers to insert, no online activations, and a price that “keeps honest people honest”. Yes, it’s just an update, but $25 (US) for an improved operating system is definitely a fair price. Microsoft are you listening? My first impression is that Snow Leopard is a very polished version of Leopard and it’s darn fast. Well done Apple.

DB2 users may be wondering if it is safe to install this version of Mac OS X 10.6 or if their existing installation will go awry. I’m happy to report that DB2 Express-C 9.5 FixPack 2 for Mac works fine on Snow Leopard. Both pre-existing installations and brand new installations of DB2 work properly, I can attest to that. So install away my friends!

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After I arrived at the Genius bar, I had to wait for quite a while before having the displeasure of dealing with an uncooperative “genius”, a young guy whose unfriendly attitude far outweighed any technical know-how he may have had. He immediately denied any knowledge of video issues on MacBook Pros from 2007 and only agreed to check my laptop after I’d showed him a printout of the knowledge base issue mentioned above. He essentially humored me in a rather reluctant way, and after a very short while told me that my laptop didn’t qualify for the free repair. Annoyed by this guy’s lack of care regarding my problem, I left the store.

Around the time when this situation arose, I had already visited the Genius Bar several times regarding various matters and was feeling a bit tired of dealing with a broken laptop. Ultimately I gave up on my old MacBook Pro (my first Mac ever) and when it was economically possible, I purchased a replacement laptop. Though my old MacBook Pro had cost me time and money, I felt that its tale was done and over with once I brought my new laptop home. That is until the day I decided that someone else could get more use out it than I was (as it was just sitting unused in my office), and that I could get a few bucks by selling it on Ebay. The old Mac’s auction wrapped up with a selling price of $578. It was bought by a fellow from Ontario, who was a very pleasant person to deal with.

If fact he was so kind that he sent me a follow-up regarding his own attempt to get the laptop fixed. Here’s what he wrote:

Just a quick update. The testing on the Macbook Pro was conducted this week, and found to conform to the warranty exception Apple identifies with the nVidia chip problem. A replacement is being installed now, but likely won’t be ready until next week. While you’re probably more content to wash your hands of the whole matter, I’d seriously consider a complaint against the apple store you took it to, and more specifically against the “genius” who served you, given he was clearly no genius at all, and likely cost you significantly in time and money as a result. Hope you’re having a good day.

I am genuinely happy for the guy. He took a risk by buying a broken laptop from me, trusted my story to be true (as it was!), and ended up scoring a working laptop that’s (now) worth far more than what he paid for it. His bet paid off and I wish him all the best.

The truth of the matter is that, as he says, I’m glad to “wash my hands of the whole matter”. At this point there is little Apple would do, even if I made a fuss about it (which I’m not going to, of course). Next time I walk by that particular Apple store, I may have a word with the manager (regarding the Genius I’d dealt with), but that’s about it.

The moral of the story is not that Apple’s customer care sucks or rocks. Apple Genii are just people, some are very good, others exceptionally bad, and most of them are somewhere in between. The take-home lesson for me here was that when dealing with Apple, if you get turned down by one store, you shouldn’t stop there! Take the time to visit a couple more and to persue the matter as far as you can.

Possibly related posts:

1. My visit to the Apple Store
2. RailsConf, Arc, Apple and other Zenbits
3. The Apple approach (aka first impressions of the MacBook Pro)

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For those of you who are not into science fiction, let me clarify that the odd title of this post is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the great novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?.

I connected to the database, created the table, imported the data and benchmarked counting operations using ActiveRecord in a standalone script. Here is the code I used:

#!/usr/bin/env ruby
require "rubygems"
require "active_record"
require 'benchmark'

ActiveRecord::Base.establish_connection(
  :adapter  => :mysql,
  :username => "myuser",
  :password => "mypass",
  :database => "mydb")

ActiveRecord::Schema.define do
  create_table :people, :force => true do |t|
    t.string :name, :null => false
    t.string :fbid, :null => false
    t.string :gender
    t.string :profession
  end
end

class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
end

# This can be sped up by performing an import instead
Person.transaction do
  File.open("person.tsv").each_line do |line|
    line = line.split(/\t/)
    p = Person.new
    p.name = line[0]
    p.fbid = line[1]
    p.gender = line[6]
    p.profession = line[17]
    p.save!
  end
end

n = 100
Benchmark.bm(26) do |x|
  x.report("Count all:") { n.times { Person.count } }
  x.report("Count profession:") { n.times { Person.count(:profession) } }

  x.report("Count females:") do
    n.times { Person.count(:conditions => "gender = 'Female'") }
  end

  x.report("Count males w/ profession:") do
    n.times { Person.count(:profession, :conditions => "gender = 'Male'") }
  end
end

Please note that importing records in a huge transaction containing hundreds of thousands of INSERT operations is far from the most efficient way to import. Massive imports of data using the load/import facilities provided by each database is the way to go (also see the ar-extensions plugin). The lengthy import wasn’t benchmarked here though, so it isn’t determinant for this article.

people.tsv is a 92.7 MB tab separated values file that contains 875,857 records from the Freebase project (in my file I removed the header line, leaving only records).

For those who are not familiar with ActiveRecord, the queries executed behind the scenes are (in order):

SELECT count(*) AS count_all FROM people

SELECT count(people.profession) AS count_profession FROM people

SELECT count(*) AS count_all FROM people WHERE (gender = 'Female')

SELECT count(people.profession) AS count_profession FROM people WHERE (gender = 'Male')

While the table definition (for MySQL) is:

CREATE TABLE `people` (
	`id` int(11) DEFAULT NULL auto_increment PRIMARY KEY,
	`name` varchar(255) NOT NULL,
	`fbid` varchar(255) NOT NULL,
	`gender` varchar(255),
	`profession` varchar(255)
) ENGINE=InnoDB

As easily verified by enabling logging with:

ActiveRecord::Base.logger = Logger.new(STDOUT)

Without much further ado, here are the times I obtained on my last generation MacBook Pro 2.66 GHz with 4 GB DDR3 RAM, and 320 GB @ 7200 rpm hard disk, running Mac OS X Leopard:

MySQL:

  Count all:                  42.467522
  Count profession:           52.130935
  Count females:              54.575469
  Count males w/ profession:  64.046631

DB2:

  Count all:                  5.818485
  Count profession:           7.714391
  Count females:              8.556377
  Count males w/ profession:  9.656739

Or in graph form:

That’s an impressive difference. To be exact, in this example DB2 was between 6 and 7 times faster than MySQL. In the case of COUNT(*), DB2 counted almost a million records in 58 milliseconds, or in about the blink of an eye according to Wolfram Alpha.

For those who are skeptical, please note that DB2 was not manually fine-tuned in any way. The client codepage was set to 1252 to allow Greek letters, and the log size was increased to permit such a huge transaction during the import. That’s it, no optimizations were attempted. This is DB2 Express-C out of the box. It looks like smart androids count electric sheep with DB2 after all.

The advantages of DB2 over MySQL when dealing with a massive volume of traffic are well known (and not limited to performance either), but DB2 can dramatically improve performance even for your average web application. And DB2 9.7, which will be released this month, increases the performance and the ability to self-tune itself to the available resources and required workload even further. If you’d like to try DB2 Express-C for yourself, you can download it here. It doesn’t cost you a dime to obtain and can be used for development, testing and production absolutely free of charge.

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