OpenFastStruct

OpenStruct allows the creation of data objects with arbitrary attributes.

OpenFastStruct is a data structure, similar* to an OpenStruct, that allows the definition of arbitrary attributes with their accompanying values. It benchmarks ~3x slower than a Hash, but it’s ~4x faster than OpenStruct.

*An OpenFastStruct is not exactly like an OpenStruct, these are the main differences between them: - OpenFastStruct doesn’t allow hash access like person[:name]. - OpenFastStruct doesn’t provide marshalling. - OpenFastStruct allows infinite chaining of attributes ^example.

Installation

Install the gem:

$ gem install ofstruct

Use the gem in a project managed with Bundler adding it into the Gemfile:

gem "ofstruct"

Examples

Basic usage

```ruby require “ofstruct”

person = OpenFastStruct.new person.name = “John Smith” person.age = 70

puts person.name # -> “John Smith” puts person.age # -> 70 puts person.address # -> # ```

Initialize and update from a Hash

An OpenFastStruct employs a Hash internally to store the methods and values and can even be initialized or updated with one:

```ruby require “ofstruct”

person = OpenFastStruct.new(:name => “John Smith”) puts person.name # -> “John Smith”

person.update(:name => “David Smith”, :age => 70) puts person.name # -> “David Smith” puts person.age # -> 70 ```

Remove attributes

Removing the presence of a method requires the execution the #delete_field method as setting the property value to a new empty OpenFastStruct.

```ruby require “ofstruct”

person = OpenFastStruct.new person.name = “John Smith” person.delete_field(:name) puts person.name # -> # ```

Black hole object

An OpenFastStruct instance is a black hole object that supports infinite chaining of attributes.

```ruby require “ofstruct”

person = OpenFastStruct.new person.address.number = 4 puts person.address.number # -> 4 ```

Benchmarks

Probably you heard that you should never, ever use OpenStruct because the performance penalty is prohibitive. You can use OpenFastStruct instead!

Comparation between Hash, OpenFastStruct and OpenStruct:

``` $ ruby benchmark/hash_ofstruct_ostruct.rb Calculating ————————————- Hash 25.518k i/100ms OpenFastStruct 10.527k i/100ms OpenStruct 3.236k i/100ms ————————————————- Hash 487.517k (±11.9%) i/s - 2.399M OpenFastStruct 159.952k (± 4.0%) i/s - 800.052k OpenStruct 45.602k (± 4.7%) i/s - 229.756k

Comparison: Hash: 487516.9 i/s OpenFastStruct: 159952.4 i/s - 3.05x slower OpenStruct: 45601.6 i/s - 10.69x slower ```

Comparation between RSpec Stubs, OpenFastStruct and OpenStruct:

``` $ ruby benchmark/double_ofstruct_ostruct.rb Calculating ————————————- RSpec Stubs 103.000 i/100ms OpenFastStruct 108.000 i/100ms OpenStruct 45.000 i/100ms ————————————————- RSpec Stubs 297.809 (±17.1%) i/s - 1.545k in 5.346697s OpenFastStruct 262.381 (±12.2%) i/s - 1.404k in 5.430345s OpenStruct 185.150 (± 7.0%) i/s - 945.000

Comparison: RSpec Stubs: 297.8 i/s OpenFastStruct: 262.4 i/s - 1.14x slower OpenStruct: 185.2 i/s - 1.61x slower ```