aris 1.4.2 → 1.5.0

data/docs/PERFORMANCE.md

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+# Performance Guide
+
+Aris was built for speed. This guide explains why it's fast, shows benchmark data, and teaches you how to optimize routing in your applications.
+
+---
+
+## Quick Summary
+
+- **2.5-3.8× faster than Roda** across all routing scenarios
+- **Sub-microsecond routing** for most requests (500-1,000 nanoseconds)
+- **O(k) lookup complexity** where k = path depth, not route count
+- **Zero allocation** in the hot path after compilation
+- **Thread-safe** for concurrent request processing
+
+Adding 1,000 routes has zero impact on routing speed—only compilation time increases (3ms).
+
+---
+
+## Benchmark Data
+
+All benchmarks run on Ruby 3.3.5 on Apple M1. Your numbers will vary, but relative performance should be similar.
+
+### vs Roda (Head-to-Head)
+
+These benchmarks compare Aris's pure routing against Roda's full request cycle (Rack parsing, middleware, everything). Even with that disadvantage, Aris wins decisively.
+
+```
+Benchmark: Root path (/)
+  Aris:  1,754,152 req/s  (570 ns/req)
+  Roda:     571,119 req/s  (1.75 μs/req)
+  Result: 3.07× faster
+
+Benchmark: Simple literal (/users)
+  Aris:  1,323,223 req/s  (756 ns/req)
+  Roda:     349,001 req/s  (2.87 μs/req)
+  Result: 3.79× faster
+
+Benchmark: Single parameter (/users/:id)
+  Aris:  1,002,314 req/s  (998 ns/req)
+  Roda:     360,031 req/s  (2.78 μs/req)
+  Result: 2.78× faster
+
+Benchmark: Two parameters (/users/:user_id/posts/:post_id)
+  Aris:    764,682 req/s  (1.31 μs/req)
+  Roda:     257,198 req/s  (3.89 μs/req)
+  Result: 2.97× faster
+
+Benchmark: Three parameters (/users/:user_id/posts/:post_id/comments/:comment_id)
+  Aris:    624,800 req/s  (1.60 μs/req)
+  Roda:     250,989 req/s  (3.98 μs/req)
+  Result: 2.49× faster
+
+Benchmark: 404 - No route match
+  Aris:  1,654,160 req/s  (605 ns/req)
+  Roda:     573,374 req/s  (1.74 μs/req)
+  Result: 2.88× faster
+```
+
+**Important note**: These compare different things. Roda's numbers include the full HTTP processing stack. If you added HTTP parsing overhead to Aris, the gap would narrow. But pure routing-to-routing, Aris is substantially faster.
+
+### Detailed Performance Profile
+
+These benchmarks isolate different aspects of Aris's performance.
+
+**Throughput by route type:**
+```
+Root path:           1,823,231 req/s  (548 ns/req)
+Literal match:       1,316,645 req/s  (760 ns/req)
+Single parameter:      984,276 req/s  (1.02 μs/req)
+Two parameters:        759,900 req/s  (1.32 μs/req)
+Three parameters:      625,294 req/s  (1.60 μs/req)
+```
+
+**Priority resolution (same path, different types):**
+```
+Literal segment:     1,015,040 req/s  (985 ns/req)
+Parameter segment:     987,754 req/s  (1.01 μs/req)
+Wildcard segment:      475,257 req/s  (2.10 μs/req)
+```
+
+Wildcards are slower because they have to try multiple capture lengths. Still fast, but noticeably slower than exact matches.
+
+**Domain resolution:**
+```
+Exact domain:        1,320,740 req/s  (757 ns/req)
+Wildcard domain:     1,142,909 req/s  (875 ns/req)
+Fallback to "*":       995,791 req/s  (1.00 μs/req)
+```
+
+Domain lookup is fast regardless of type. The fallback is slightly slower because it checks the specific domain first.
+
+**Compilation time (route count → compilation duration):**
+```
+10 routes:      0.12 ms
+100 routes:     0.24 ms
+1,000 routes:   3.14 ms
+5,000 routes:  15.00 ms
+```
+
+Compilation is linear with route count and happens once at boot. Even 5,000 routes compile in 15ms.
+
+**Memory allocation per match:**
+```
+Literal match:       960 bytes  (18 objects)
+Parameterized match: 1,160 bytes (23 objects)
+Path helper:         1,520 bytes (26 objects)
+```
+
+These allocations are unavoidable—you need to build the params hash and return result objects. But they're minimal.
+
+---
+
+## Why It's Fast
+
+### 1. Compilation, Not Evaluation
+
+Most routers execute code on every request. They evaluate blocks, call methods, check conditions. Aris compiles routes into a Trie structure at boot time. Matching is pure data structure traversal—no method calls, no block evaluation, no conditionals.
+
+```ruby
+# Other routers (conceptual):
+def match(path)
+  routes.each do |route|
+    return route.handler if route.pattern.match?(path)  # Code executes
+  end
+end
+
+# Aris (simplified from actual implementation):
+def match(domain, method, path)
+  segments = path.split('/').reject(&:empty?)
+  node = @tries[domain]
+  
+  segments.each do |segment|
+    # Try literal match first (fastest)
+    if node[:literal_children][segment]
+      node = node[:literal_children][segment]
+    # Fall back to parameter match
+    elsif node[:param_child]
+      node = node[:param_child][:node]
+    else
+      return nil  # No match
+    end
+  end
+  
+  node[:handlers][method]  # Return handler metadata
+end
+```
+
+### 2. O(k) Lookup Complexity
+
+Route matching is O(k) where k is the path depth, not the route count. Matching `/users/123/posts/456` performs exactly 4 lookups regardless of whether you have 10 routes or 10,000 routes.
+
+This is why compilation time increases with route count but matching time doesn't. The Trie grows larger, but lookups remain constant depth.
+
+### 3. Structural Sharing
+
+Routes with common prefixes share Trie nodes. If you define:
+- `/users/123/posts`
+- `/users/123/comments`
+- `/users/456/posts`
+
+The Trie only stores `/users/:id` once, then branches at the next segment. Memory usage scales with unique path segments, not total route count.
+
+### 4. Zero Allocation in Hot Path
+
+After compilation, the Trie is immutable. Matching a route doesn't allocate new objects for the Trie structure itself—it just walks existing nodes. The only allocations are for the result hash and params extraction, which you need anyway.
+
+Aris also caches normalized path segments up to a configurable limit (default 1,000), avoiding repeated string operations.
+
+### 5. No Regular Expression Matching in Routing
+
+Route patterns use simple string comparisons for literal segments and single captures for parameters. Constraints use regex, but they're optional and only run after structural matching succeeds.
+
+This means common case routing (literal paths and simple parameters) involves zero regex operations.
+
+---
+
+## Profiling Your Application
+
+The included profiler helps identify bottlenecks in your routing configuration.
+
+```ruby
+# benchmark/profiler.rb
+require 'aris'
+require_relative '../test/profiler'  # Use the profiler from tests
+
+Profiler.new.run_all
+```
+
+Output shows timing for compilation, matching, path generation, and memory usage:
+
+```
+PROFILING COMPILATION
+  tiny: 0.000s (10 routes)
+  small: 0.001s (100 routes)
+  medium: 0.002s (1,000 routes)
+  large: 0.015s (5,000 routes)
+
+PROFILING MATCHING
+  root: 0.001s (1,000 iterations)
+  literal: 0.001s
+  param_1: 0.001s
+  param_2: 0.002s
+  param_3: 0.002s
+  wildcard: 0.007s
+  deep_nest: 0.002s
+  miss_path: 0.001s
+  miss_method: 0.001s
+  miss_domain: 0.000s
+
+PROFILING PATH GENERATION
+  simple: 0.001s (1,000 iterations)
+  param_1: 0.002s
+  param_2: 0.002s
+  query: 0.003s
+  encoded: 0.003s
+
+PROFILING MEMORY
+  memory growth: -128KB (after 1,000 matches + 1,000 path generations)
+```
+
+If you see any operation taking >0.1s for 1,000 iterations, investigate. Normal operations should be <0.01s per 1,000 iterations.
+
+### Custom Profiling
+
+Add your own routes to the profiler to test realistic scenarios:
+
+```ruby
+# In benchmark/profiler.rb
+def my_app_config
+  {
+    "myapp.com": {
+      # Your actual routes
+    }
+  }
+end
+
+def profile_my_app
+  Aris::Router.define(my_app_config)
+  
+  # Test your most common paths
+  paths = [
+    "/users/123",
+    "/api/v1/projects/456",
+    "/dashboard"
+  ]
+  
+  time = Benchmark.measure do
+    10_000.times do
+      paths.each do |path|
+        Aris::Router.match(domain: "myapp.com", method: :get, path: path)
+      end
+    end
+  end.real
+  
+  puts "30,000 matches: #{time}s"
+  puts "Per match: #{(time / 30_000 * 1_000_000).round(2)}μs"
+end
+
+profile_my_app
+```
+
+---
+
+## Optimization Techniques
+
+### 1. Minimize Wildcard Routes
+
+Wildcards are 2× slower than exact matches because they try multiple capture lengths. Use them when you need them, but prefer exact segments when possible.
+
+```ruby
+# Slower
+"/files/*path": { get: { to: FileHandler } }
+
+# Faster (if you know the structure)
+"/files/:year/:month/:day/:filename": { get: { to: FileHandler } }
+```
+
+### 2. Keep Route Depth Shallow
+
+Route matching is O(k) where k is depth. Prefer flat structures over deep nesting when performance matters.
+
+```ruby
+# Slower (depth = 6)
+"/api/v1/organizations/:org_id/teams/:team_id/members/:member_id"
+
+# Faster (depth = 4)
+"/api/v1/members/:member_id"  # Look up org/team from member
+```
+
+This trades routing performance for a database lookup. Usually worth it, but measure your specific case.
+
+### 3. Use Constraints Sparingly
+
+Constraints run regex matches after structural routing succeeds. They're fast, but not as fast as no regex.
+
+```ruby
+# Adds regex overhead
+constraints: { id: /\A\d{1,8}\z/ }
+
+# No regex overhead
+# (validate in handler instead)
+```
+
+Only use constraints when you need to fail at routing time. If validation can happen in the handler, do it there.
+
+### 4. Cache Path Generation
+
+Path generation is fast (~1μs), but if you're generating the same path thousands of times per second, cache it.
+
+```ruby
+# In a hot loop
+users.each do |user|
+  url = Aris.url(:user, id: user.id)  # Regenerates every time
+end
+
+# Cached
+@user_url_template = "/users/%d"
+users.each do |user|
+  url = @user_url_template % user.id
+end
+```
+
+This is micro-optimization. Only do it if profiling shows path generation is a bottleneck.
+
+### 5. Use Literal Routes Over Parameters When Possible
+
+Literal segments are slightly faster than parameters because they use hash lookup instead of capture.
+
+```ruby
+# If you only have a few known values:
+"/users/admin": { get: { to: AdminHandler } }
+"/users/moderator": { get: { to: ModeratorHandler } }
+"/users/:role": { get: { to: RoleHandler } }
+
+# Better performance for the common cases
+```
+
+Again, this is micro-optimization. The difference is 50-100 nanoseconds.
+
+---
+
+## When Performance Matters
+
+**It usually doesn't.** Routing is rarely your bottleneck. Database queries, external API calls, and business logic are almost always slower than routing.
+
+Consider these numbers:
+- Routing: 1μs (0.001ms)
+- Database query: 10ms (10,000× slower)
+- External API call: 100ms (100,000× slower)
+- Complex computation: 50ms (50,000× slower)
+
+If your response time is 50ms, routing consumes 0.002% of it. Optimizing routing from 1μs to 0.5μs saves 0.5μs out of 50,000μs. Not worth your time.
+
+**When it does matter:**
+
+1. **Very high request rates** - If you're handling 100,000+ requests per second, routing overhead adds up. At 100K req/s, 1μs routing = 100ms of CPU time per second, or 10% of a core.
+
+2. **Extremely simple handlers** - If your handlers are trivial (return cached data, proxy to another service), routing becomes a larger percentage of total time.
+
+3. **Microservices doing pure routing** - If you have a router service that does nothing but route requests to other services, routing performance is your only job.
+
+4. **Real-time systems** - If you need p99 latency under 5ms, every microsecond counts.
+
+For most applications, focus on handler performance. Make database queries faster, cache aggressively, optimize algorithms. Routing will take care of itself.
+
+---
+
+## Concurrent Performance
+
+Routing is completely thread-safe after compilation. Multiple threads can match routes concurrently with no locks, no synchronization overhead, no contention.
+
+This makes Aris ideal for multi-threaded servers like Puma:
+
+```ruby
+# config/puma.rb
+workers 4      # Fork 4 processes
+threads 5, 5   # 5 threads per worker = 20 concurrent requests
+
+# Each thread routes independently
+# No locking, no waiting, no contention
+```
+
+Route redefinition (calling `Aris.routes`) is not thread-safe and should only happen at boot or during controlled maintenance windows.
+
+---
+
+## Production Monitoring
+
+Monitor these metrics in production to catch routing-related performance issues:
+
+**Request rate distribution by route:**
+```ruby
+class MetricsPlugin
+  def self.call(request, response)
+    route_name = Thread.current[:aris_matched_route_name]
+    Metrics.increment("requests.route.#{route_name}")
+    nil
+  end
+end
+```
+
+If one route suddenly gets 10× more traffic, you'll see it here before it becomes a problem.
+
+**p50/p95/p99 latency:**
+```ruby
+class LatencyPlugin
+  def self.call(request, response)
+    start = Time.now
+    response.headers['X-Start-Time'] = start.to_f.to_s
+    nil
+  end
+end
+
+class LatencyReporter
+  def self.call(request, response)
+    start = response.headers.delete('X-Start-Time')&.to_f
+    return nil unless start
+    
+    duration = Time.now.to_f - start
+    route_name = Thread.current[:aris_matched_route_name]
+    
+    Metrics.histogram("latency.route.#{route_name}", duration)
+    nil
+  end
+end
+```
+
+Watch for routes where p99 latency is much higher than p50. Those routes have occasional slowness that needs investigation.
+
+**Memory growth:**
+```ruby
+# In a monitoring process
+def check_memory
+  before = memory_usage
+  sleep 60
+  after = memory_usage
+  
+  growth = after - before
+  alert if growth > threshold
+end
+```
+
+Routing itself shouldn't cause memory growth. If you see it growing, you likely have a leak in handlers or plugins, not in routing.
+
+---
+
+## Benchmarking Your Own App
+
+Run benchmarks against your actual routes with your actual traffic patterns.
+
+```ruby
+# benchmark/my_app.rb
+require 'benchmark/ips'
+require 'aris'
+
+# Load your routes
+require_relative '../config/routes'
+
+# Benchmark your most common paths
+Benchmark.ips do |x|
+  x.config(time: 5, warmup: 2)
+  
+  x.report("dashboard") do
+    Aris::Router.match(domain: "app.myapp.com", method: :get, path: "/dashboard")
+  end
+  
+  x.report("user profile") do
+    Aris::Router.match(domain: "app.myapp.com", method: :get, path: "/users/12345")
+  end
+  
+  x.report("api endpoint") do
+    Aris::Router.match(domain: "api.myapp.com", method: :get, path: "/v1/projects/67890")
+  end
+  
+  x.compare!
+end
+```
+
+Run this before and after making routing changes to ensure you haven't regressed performance.
+
+---
+
+## The Bottom Line
+
+Aris is fast enough that routing performance should never be your bottleneck. Focus on:
+
+1. **Handler performance** - Database queries, API calls, business logic
+2. **Caching** - Don't compute what you can cache
+3. **Database optimization** - Indexes, query optimization, connection pooling
+4. **Algorithmic improvements** - O(n²) → O(n log n) matters more than routing speed
+
+Routing is solved so you can tackle your actual problems.