title: Why is Symbol#to_proc slower in Ruby 1.8.7?
body: <p><a href="http://blog.gregspurrier.com/articles/relative-performance-of-symbol-to-proc-in-popular-ruby-implementations" rel="nofollow">Relative Performance of Symbol#to_proc in Popular Ruby Implementations</a> states that in MRI Ruby 1.8.7, <code>Symbol#to_proc</code> is slower than the alternative in their benchmark by 30% to 130%, but that this isn't the case in YARV Ruby 1.9.2.</p>
  
  <p>Why is this the case? The creators of 1.8.7 didn't write <code>Symbol#to_proc</code> in pure Ruby.</p>
  
  <p>Also, are there any gems that provide faster Symbol#to_proc performance for 1.8?</p>
  
  <p>(Symbol#to_proc is starting to appear when I use ruby-prof, so I don't think I'm guilty of premature optimization)</p>