From: Gaspard Bucher <gaspard@...>
Date: 2007-09-17T05:51:53+09:00
Subject: Re: Newbie help

I just did a stupid test :

[
 ["string last  char", 'jdhduiehspdshfgie494hfps9e4',
'jdhduiehspdshfgie494hfps9e2'],
 ["symbol last  char", :'jdhduiehspdshfgie494hfps9e4',
:'jdhduiehspdshfgie494hfps9e2'],
 ["string first char", 'jdhduiehspdshfgie494hfps9e4',
'jdhduiehspdshfgie494hfps9e2'],
 ["symbol first char", :'jdhduiehspdshfgie494hfps9e4',
:'kdhduiehspdshfgie494hfps9e4'],
 ["string same      ", 'jdhduiehspdshfgie494hfps9e4',
'jdhduiehspdshfgie494hfps9e4'],
  ["symbol same      ", :'jdhduiehspdshfgie494hfps9e4',
:'jdhduiehspdshfgie494hfps9e4'],
].each do |m,a,b|
  t = Time.now
  x = 0
  y = 0
  1_000_000.times do
   if a == b
     x += 1
   else
     y += 1
   end
  end
  puts "#{m}: #{(Time.now - t).to_f} (#{x},#{y})"
end

Here are the results. You gain 10% speed by using symbols in such a situation.
string last  char: 2.782326 (0,1000000)
symbol last  char: 2.42484 (0,1000000)
string first char: 2.650707 (0,1000000)
symbol first char: 2.470714 (0,1000000)
string same      : 2.737924 (1000000,0)
symbol same      : 2.401426 (1000000,0)