Shows
On RailsJean Boussier & IO-Bound MisconceptionsJean Boussier, Senior Staff Engineer at Shopify and member of the Rails Core team, joins Robby to dig into the performance realities behind modern Rails apps.They explore what it means to be IO-bound or CPU-bound, how Ruby’s Global VM Lock affects concurrency, and why "fast" is too vague to be useful. Jean explains why instrumentation is often the missing piece and shares thoughtful approaches to using background jobs with intention.They also talk about gem dependencies. The gems in your `Gemfile` are not magic. If your app depends on them, you should understand th...
2025-07-141h 05
Dead CodeOrdinary Corrupt Memory Love (with Jean Boussier (byroot))In this episode of Dead Code, host Jared Norman speaks with Jean Boussier, a key contributor to the Ruby community and Shopify engineer, about the challenges of concurrency in Ruby, particularly the Global VM Lock (GVL). Jean explains that while the GVL was originally implemented to simplify Ruby’s design, it now limits parallel execution, sparking debate on whether it should be removed. He argues that many Ruby applications are more CPU-bound than previously thought and suggests improving Ruby’s thread scheduler as a more practical short-term solution rather than eliminating the GVL entirely. The discussion also explores Ractors, Ruby...
2025-03-1833 minDead CodeOrdinary Corrupt Memory Love (with Jean Boussier (byroot))In this episode of Dead Code, host Jared Norman speaks with Jean Boussier, a key contributor to the Ruby community and Shopify engineer, about the challenges of concurrency in Ruby, particularly the Global VM Lock (GVL). Jean explains that while the GVL was originally implemented to simplify Ruby’s design, it now limits parallel execution, sparking debate on whether it should be removed. He argues that many Ruby applications are more CPU-bound than previously thought and suggests improving Ruby’s thread scheduler as a more practical short-term solution rather than eliminating the GVL entirely. The discussion also explores Ractors, Ruby...
2025-03-1833 min
The Rails Changelog029: Tuning Ruby on Rails App Performance with Jean BoussierIn this episode, Jean Boussier and I dive deep into performance optimisation for Ruby on Rails applications. From diagnosing common bottlenecks and mastering advanced caching techniques to leveraging YJIT, jemalloc, and server concurrency models, we explore practical strategies for scaling apps efficiently. We also discuss key metrics for monitoring production performance, cost-effective observability, and modern Rails patterns to embrace or avoid. Perfect for developers looking to take their Rails performance game to the next level!Ruby and Rails Conference: wroclove.rb 11–13.04.2025 Wrocław, PolandTry Mailtrap for freeRails Guide: Tuning Performance for Deployment...
2025-01-241h 04
Ruby RoguesPitchfork, Falcon, and Performant HTTP Servers - RUBY 587Jean Boussier is a Staff Engineer on Shopify's Ruby and Rails infrastructure team. He joins the show to talk about pitchfork. He begins by defining the pitchfork and describing how the application concept works. Moreover, he explains the reason why he wrote it and tackles some of its useful features. SponsorsChuck's Resume TemplateDeveloper Book ClubBecome a Top 1% Dev with a Top End Devs MembershipEducational LinksGitHub - Shopify/pitchforkTo Thread or Not to Thread: An In-Depth Look at Ruby’s Execution ModelsHeap Profiler: Measure memory allocations and retentions of a Ruby code snippetRails’ eager_load_namespacesThe Deadline patternCircuit Breaker...
2023-03-2245 min