Almost the same # years experience here in Java, then in Ruby for the last several.
Ruby is NOT dog slow compared in duration of time per activity on the (virtual) hardware we have now than Java was in the early 2000s on the hardware in those days.
Java is slower than writing machine code, but that doesn't mean I'm going to start coding in machine code.
If Ruby is dog slow for you, you are probably trying to run JRuby in development (vs. on server) which is dog slow (though on server after startup and compilation it is pretty darn fast), or you're starting Rails up everytime you need to do anything (vs. the many ways around that).
If you've read JRuby is faster- they are talking about the server. They didn't mean locally, recompiling all of the time.
It's true Ruby is older, but Ruby is usable today. I'm sorry that you had a bad experience but please don't spread FUD.
I can't believe this is the top comment at the moment.
First, let's get something straight. This project wasn't necessary, because you shouldn't be type checking in Ruby if it is written correctly. That's basically what contracts are, at least in this case.
To address your concern, Ruby's performance is plenty fast- like Java entering the early 2000's fast. (You probably don't get my reference, but in the mid-1990's, people complained Java was slow.) No one at work has complained about the performance of our Rails app running on Unicorn, and we've not had to do one performance tweaking iteration ever.
Ruby is NOT dog slow compared in duration of time per activity on the (virtual) hardware we have now than Java was in the early 2000s on the hardware in those days.
Java is slower than writing machine code, but that doesn't mean I'm going to start coding in machine code.
If Ruby is dog slow for you, you are probably trying to run JRuby in development (vs. on server) which is dog slow (though on server after startup and compilation it is pretty darn fast), or you're starting Rails up everytime you need to do anything (vs. the many ways around that).
If you've read JRuby is faster- they are talking about the server. They didn't mean locally, recompiling all of the time.
It's true Ruby is older, but Ruby is usable today. I'm sorry that you had a bad experience but please don't spread FUD.