This post originated from an RSS feed registered with Ruby Buzz by Ryan Davis. Original Post: readability vs. speed Feed Title: Polishing Ruby Feed URL: http://blog.zenspider.com/index.rdf Feed Description: Musings on Ruby and the Ruby Community... Latest Ruby Buzz Posts Latest Ruby Buzz Posts by Ryan Davis Latest Posts From Polishing Ruby

Which one is better? You decide...

if true then # 0.75 seconds
  require 'active_record'
  require 'yaml'
  require 'app/models/author'
  require 'app/models/project'
  config = YAML.load(File.read('config/database.yml'))
  ActiveRecord::Base.establish_connection(config["development"])
else # 2.0 seconds
  require File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/../config/environment'
end

conn = ActiveRecord::Base.connection

I'm slightly partial to the faster running one (esp. during development)... but it did take me a while to figger it out. Loading config/environment a heavy price to pay just to get a DB connection and automatic requires.