The serialization showdown.

yaml-vs-json-vs-bson-vs-marshal-vs-yajl.txt

feed_hash = feed.to_hash
puts Benchmark.bm(20) { |x|
  x.report('yaml') { (1..1000).each { feed_hash.to_yaml } }
  x.report('yaml+zlib') { (1..1000).each { Zlib::Deflate.deflate(feed_hash.to_yaml) } }
  x.report('json') { (1..1000).each { feed_hash.to_json } }
  x.report('json+zlib') { (1..1000).each { Zlib::Deflate.deflate(feed_hash.to_json) } }
  x.report('bson') { (1..1000).each { BSON.serialize feed_hash } }
  x.report('marshal') { (1..1000).each { Marshal::dump(feed_hash) } }
  x.report('marshal+zlib') { (1..1000).each { Zlib::Deflate.deflate(Marshal::dump(feed_hash)) } }
  x.report('yajl') { (1..1000).each { Yajl::Encoder.encode(feed_hash) } }
  x.report('yajl+zlib') { (1..1000).each { Zlib::Deflate.deflate(Yajl::Encoder.encode(feed_hash)) } }
}


$ uname -a
Darwin roadrunner.local 10.7.0 Darwin Kernel Version 10.7.0: Sat Jan 29 15:17:16 PST 2011; root:xnu-1504.9.37~1/RELEASE_I386 i386

$ ruby -v
ruby 1.8.7 (2009-06-12 patchlevel 174) [universal-darwin10.0]

$ gem query | egrep 'yaml|json|bson|yajl'
bson (1.3.0)
bson_ext (1.3.0)
json (1.4.2)
json_pure (1.4.3)
multi_json (0.0.5)
yajl-ruby (0.8.2)


Results on Ruby 1.8.7 (stock Snow Leopard version):

                          user     system      total        real
yaml                 10.300000   0.170000  10.470000 ( 10.450364)
yaml+zlib            11.230000   0.170000  11.400000 ( 11.566976)
json                  0.390000   0.000000   0.390000 (  0.391399)
json+zlib             1.010000   0.010000   1.020000 (  1.015337)
bson                  0.090000   0.000000   0.090000 (  0.088657)
marshal               0.180000   0.000000   0.180000 (  0.181146)
marshal+zlib          0.800000   0.000000   0.800000 (  0.805794)
yajl                  0.380000   0.000000   0.380000 (  0.385006)
yajl+zlib             1.020000   0.010000   1.030000 (  1.017877)


$ gem install bson bson_ext json yajl-ruby
$ gem query | egrep 'yaml|json|bson|yajl'
bson (1.3.0)
bson_ext (1.3.0)
json (1.5.1, 1.4.2)
json_pure (1.4.3)
multi_json (0.0.5)
yajl-ruby (0.8.2)

Results on Ruby 1.8.7 (stock Snow Leopard version, but with updated gems)

                          user     system      total        real
yaml                 10.320000   0.200000  10.520000 ( 10.586645)
yaml+zlib            10.840000   0.220000  11.060000 ( 11.079832)
json                  0.380000   0.000000   0.380000 (  0.381827)
json+zlib             1.040000   0.000000   1.040000 (  1.039673)
bson                  0.070000   0.010000   0.080000 (  0.076006)
marshal               0.190000   0.000000   0.190000 (  0.195457)
marshal+zlib          0.800000   0.000000   0.800000 (  0.803859)
yajl                  0.460000   0.000000   0.460000 (  0.455251)
yajl+zlib             1.090000   0.010000   1.100000 (  1.097557)

$ rvm use 1.9.2
Using ~/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-p180

$ ruby -v
ruby 1.9.2p180 (2011-02-18 revision 30909) [x86_64-darwin10.6.0]

$ gem query | egrep 'yaml|json|bson|yajl'
bson (1.3.0)
bson_ext (1.3.0)
json (1.5.1)
yajl-ruby (0.8.2)


Results on Ruby 1.9.2 (patchlevel 180):

                          user     system      total        real
yaml                  7.140000   0.050000   7.190000 (  7.376373)
yaml+zlib             7.120000   0.050000   7.170000 (  7.287746)
json                  0.360000   0.000000   0.360000 (  0.365976)
json+zlib             0.500000   0.000000   0.500000 (  0.502679)
bson                  0.250000   0.000000   0.250000 (  0.250349)
marshal               0.300000   0.000000   0.300000 (  0.304102)
marshal+zlib          0.510000   0.000000   0.510000 (  0.514293)
yajl                  0.320000   0.010000   0.330000 (  0.434203)
yajl+zlib             0.500000   0.000000   0.500000 (  0.507787)