--- title: "[TEST] How software transactional memory (STM) could improve Ruby concurrency" publication: "Ruby Weekly" issue: 525 published_at: "2020-10-29" canonical_url: "https://rubyweekly.com/issues/525" --- Plus more of this week's Ruby news, views, and libraries. #525 — October 29, 2020 [Read on the Web](https://rubyweekly.com/issues/525) Ruby Weekly [![\](https://res.cloudinary.com/cpress/image/upload/w_1280,e_sharpen:60/vd621xkn65uaendhtbrp.jpg)](https://chrisseaton.com/truffleruby/ruby-stm/) [Examining a Proposal to Add Software Transactional Memory (STM) to Ruby](https://chrisseaton.com/truffleruby/ruby-stm/) — Chris Seaton was the founder of [TruffleRuby](https://github.com/oracle/truffleruby) (so he knows his stuff) and here he goes deep into a [STM proposal for Ruby](https://bugs.ruby-lang.org/issues/17261), explaining what STM is and why it could be useful. Get ready to bend your brain into fancy new shapes, but at the same time, it's quite accessible. Chris Seaton [What's the Best EC2 Instance Type for Rails Apps?](https://www.fastruby.io/blog/rails/performance/ruby/best-ec2-instance-for-rails-apps.html) — While there are perhaps 574 types of EC2 instance type (we exaggerate!) they’re broken down into a handful of families each with pros and cons for different workloads. So which to choose for your Rails apps? Noah provides some advice and some numbers here. Noah Gibbs [![\](https://copm.s3.amazonaws.com/2183a2ef.png)](https://www.cloud66.com/campaigns/heroku/?utm_source=-&utm_medium=-&utm_campaign=RubyWeekly-q4-2) [Deploy Rails Apps with Cloud 66](https://www.cloud66.com/campaigns/heroku/?utm_source=-&utm_medium=-&utm_campaign=RubyWeekly-q4-2) — Deploy your Rails applications to any cloud in minutes. By running your apps on your own servers, you'll save up to 60% compared to Heroku while enjoying the same simplicity. 4-week free trial + extra $66 free credits with the code: ``Ruby-Weekly`'. Cloud 66 sponsor [Squash N+1 Queries Early with `n_plus_one_control` Test Matchers](https://evilmartians.com/chronicles/squash-n-plus-one-queries-early-with-n-plus-one-control-test-matchers-for-ruby-and-rails) — [n_plus_one_control](https://github.com/palkan/n_plus_one_control) was built to capture N+1 queries at test time (RSpec and Minitest) as well as to address some of the issues with the Bullet gem (false positives, etc.) Evil Martians ▶[How to Quit Your Job and Leave Your Code in Good Hands](http://5by5.tv/rubyonrails/342) — Brittany Martin, the usual host of the Ruby on Rails Podcast, guested on the [Maintainable podcast](https://maintainable.fm/) to discuss the mistakes developers make when discussing technical debt with stakeholders and why it is important to write automated tests against a live/production API. Dan Benjamin and 5by5 Productions, LLC podcast 📘 Articles & Tutorials [Counting Things in Active Record](https://longliveruby.com/articles/active-record-counting-records) — A comparison of the various methods for counting things: `count`, `size`, `length`, `any?`, `empty?`, `present?`. There are real implications for choosing one over the other. Paweł Dąbrowski [How to Check Where a Method is Defined](https://rubyyagi.com/where-method-defined/) — A quick tip on how to find the method, its owner, and its location. Axel Kee [The Arguments Forwarding Shorthand in Ruby 2.7](https://medium.com/rubycademy/the-arguments-forwarding-shorthand-in-ruby-2-7-af32d58c223b) — A dive into the `...` shorthand syntax accompanied by a method for manipulating arguments before forwarding to another class. Mehdi Farsi [12 Years Ago We Released Our First Agent: The Ruby Agent](https://blog.newrelic.com/product-news/simple-pricing/?utm_campaign=FY21-Q3-DEV-OBSV-AMER-RW-NL-SL-B_SP&utm_medium=NL&utm_source=RW&utm_content=B_SP&fiscal_year=FY21&quarter=Q3>m=DEV&program=OBSV&ad_type=SL&geo=AMER) — In celebration of more than a decade together we arranged a small gift for you: New Relic is free now. Yes, all of it. New Relic sponsor [How I Set Up a Rails Application for Testing](https://www.codewithjason.com/set-rails-application-testing/) — ‘Rails Testing’ might as well be Jason’s middle name, so I was certainly interested to see his approach here. It’s nothing surprising (and I’m a Minitest guy anyway) but you might find it useful guidance. Jason Swett [Re-Using SSH Config Inside Docker Containers with WSL2](https://avdi.codes/re-use-ssh-config-inside-docker-containers-with-wsl2/) Avdi Grimm [Using Signed URLs with Google Cloud Storage](https://blog.joshsoftware.com/2020/10/26/using-signed-urls-with-google-cloud-storage/) J. Austin Hughey 💻 Jobs [Ruby on Rails Senior Software Engineer](https://recruiting2.ultipro.com/CIV1000CIPLI/JobBoard/79b093ad-bba9-48ba-b34d-f3900c56a15e/OpportunityDetail?opportunityId=da76dc31-dea5-42ad-ab2e-5a392fe7ac7e) — We're seeking an experienced Ruby on Rails developer to be part of the CivicPlus team to help local governments work better. CivicPlus [Senior Software Engineer (React + Rails) [Remote\]](https://apply.workable.com/fleetio/j/10106DAD9C/) — A modern fleet management software, remote-first culture, passionate about creating delightful user experiences for thousands of customers. Fleetio [Find Your Next Job Through Vettery](https://www.vettery.com/tech?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=cooper-rubyweekly&utm_term=tech&utm_content=grouped&utm_campaign=ad-77583) — Create a profile on Vettery to connect with hiring managers at startups and Fortune 500 companies. It's free for job-seekers. Vettery ℹ️ _Interested in running a job listing in Ruby Weekly? There's [more info here](https://booking.cooperpress.com/jobs)_. 🛠 Code and Tools [![\](https://res.cloudinary.com/cpress/image/upload/w_1280,e_sharpen:60/v1603975537/h1lrqfgu6pp4zbhp19rv.png)](https://github.com/radar/humanize) Fancy numbers.. but Humanize takes a different approach! [Humanize: A Library to Make Your Numbers More 'Fancy'](https://github.com/radar/humanize) — If by ‘fancy’ you mean turn into natural language versions, e.g. `15.humanize # => "fifteen"` .. it supports 13 languages out of the box from English and Spanish to Azerbaijani and Vietnamese. 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Kenshi Muto [BrowseEverything: Rails Engine Providing Access to Files in Cloud Storage](https://github.com/samvera/browse-everything) [rubocop-rails_config: A RuboCop Config Matching Rails' Official Style](https://github.com/toshimaru/rubocop-rails_config) [influxer: Use InfluxDB ActiveRecord-Style](https://github.com/palkan/influxer) [sequel-activerecord_connection 1.0: Let Sequel Reuse An ActiveRecord Connection.](https://github.com/janko/sequel-activerecord_connection) [Tomo 1.4: A Friendly CLI for Deploying Rails Apps](https://github.com/mattbrictson/tomo) Curated by [Peter Cooper](https://twitter.com/peterc), [Glenn Goodrich](https://twitter.com/ruprict) and [Cooperpress](https://cooperpress.com/). [Change your email address](https://rubyweekly.com/edit_subscription/*|UID|*) or[Stop getting this newsletter](https://rubyweekly.com/leave/*|UID|*) © Cooper Press Ltd · Fairfield Enterprise Centre, Louth, LN11 0LS, United Kingdom