How to use Ruby 1.8 head (which has 1.9 style hash syntax!), and a description of professor, which compares two separate ruby-prof profilings to detect differences.

1. No Ruby 1.8.8? Fork that!
Andrew Grimm
ROROSyd 2011-06-20

2. Ruby 1.8.8 RIP
“No core developers are currently willing to
release 1.8.8.”

3. Zombie Ruby!
Ruby_1_8 branch still exists
rvm install ruby-head --branch ruby_1_8
ruby 1.8.8dev (2011-05-25) [i386-
darwin10.7.0]

4. Undead code demo

5. What to use it for
1.8-only gems where you have 1.9-style code

6. What not to use it for
Production!

7. Professor
Andrew Grimm
RORO Syd 2011-06-21

8. How profiling should work
Have slow code
Determine what's slow scientifically
Attempt a fix
Verify the fix fixes the problem

9. Comparing two profiles
Not 100% sure it's the right approach
See that methods I expect to improve do so
See that others don't