YJIT: Building a New JIT Compiler for CRuby

A team of skilled engineers from Shopify and GitHub on YJIT, a new Just-in-time (JIT) compiler built inside CRuby.

Maxime Chevalier-Boisvert
7 min readintermediate
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Overview

YJIT is a new Just-in-time (JIT) compiler being developed for CRuby to enhance the performance of Ruby applications, particularly those using Ruby on Rails. The project aims to improve execution speed significantly while maintaining compatibility with existing Ruby code.

What You'll Learn

1

How to leverage YJIT for improved Ruby application performance

2

Why YJIT is a significant advancement over MJIT in CRuby

3

When to use YJIT in production environments for Ruby applications

Prerequisites & Requirements

  • Understanding of Ruby and its execution model
  • Familiarity with JIT compilation concepts(optional)

Key Questions Answered

What performance improvements does YJIT offer compared to the CRuby interpreter?
YJIT has achieved speedups of 20% on railsbench, 39% on liquid template rendering, and 37% on ActiveRecord compared to the CRuby interpreter. It also provides fast warm-up times, reaching near-peak performance after a single iteration of any benchmark.
How does YJIT maintain compatibility with existing Ruby code?
YJIT is designed to maintain almost 100% compatibility with existing Ruby code and packages, passing the CRuby test suite of about 30,000 tests, as well as tests from Shopify Core and GitHub's backend.
What are the next steps for integrating YJIT into CRuby?
The Ruby core developers plan to merge YJIT into Ruby 3.1, allowing Ruby developers to use it by passing a command-line option. Future improvements are also planned to enhance YJIT and CRuby's performance.

Key Statistics & Figures

Speedup on railsbench
20%
Compared to the CRuby interpreter
Speedup on liquid template rendering
39%
Compared to the CRuby interpreter
Speedup on ActiveRecord
37%
Compared to the CRuby interpreter

Technologies & Tools

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Backend
Cruby
The primary Ruby interpreter that YJIT is being integrated into.
Web Framework
Ruby On Rails
A widely used framework that benefits from YJIT's performance enhancements.

Key Actionable Insights

1
Consider integrating YJIT into your Ruby applications to leverage significant performance improvements, especially if you're using Ruby on Rails.
With YJIT's reported speedups on common benchmarks, it can enhance the responsiveness and efficiency of your applications.
2
Stay informed about the upcoming features and improvements in YJIT as they are merged into Ruby 3.1.
This will allow you to take advantage of the latest optimizations and ensure your applications remain competitive in performance.

Common Pitfalls

1
Assuming YJIT will work seamlessly without testing in your specific application context.
Performance improvements can vary based on the application's workload and structure, so thorough testing is essential before deploying YJIT in production.

Related Concepts

Just-in-time Compilation
Ruby Performance Optimization
Dynamic Typing In Programming Languages