_________
< Frames! >
 ---------
        \   ^__^
         \  (oo)\_______

#BEGIN CONFIG INFO
#DESCR: 1GB RAM, InnoDB only, limited ACID, few connections, heavy queries
#TYPE: SYSTEM
#AUTHOR: Evan Weaver
#END CONFIG INFO

             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:          1022        978         44          0         18         31
-/+ buffers/cache:        928         94
Swap:         2047        991       1056

HasManyThroughAssociation has a performance problem where push and <<, etc., trigger a gratuitous load of the @target association. This is very punishing on a large association collection.

Part of the issue is that HasManyThroughAssociation#method_missing indirectly forces load_target to run, loading the association. This means that returning(), require, etc., and other valid methods not local to the class trigger object state change and database loads. The attached patch avoids calling returning() for this reason.

Index: activerecord/test/associations_test.rb
===================================================================
--- activerecord/test/associations_test.rb        (revision 6549)
+++ activerecord/test/associations_test.rb        (working copy)
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@

class Object
  def _logger_debug s
    ::ActiveRecord::Base.logger.debug(s) if ::ActiveRecord::Base.logger
  end  
  def _logger_warn s

class HpricotMock

  def initialize title, *args
    @title = title

module Kindling
  
  mattr_accessor :before_filters
  mattr_accessor :after_filters
  self.before_filters ||= []

module Kindling
  
  mattr_accessor :before_filters
  mattr_accessor :after_filters
  self.before_filters ||= []

$ script/console 
Loading development environment.
>> Topic.find(324343).user.class == User
=> true
>> reload!

#BEGIN CONFIG INFO
#DESCR: 2GB RAM, InnoDB only, limited ACID, few connections, heavy queries
#TYPE: SYSTEM
#END CONFIG INFO

## redefine task

# http://www.bigbold.com/snippets/posts/show/2032
module Rake

## task.rb

class Task < ActiveRecord:Base
  belongs_to :product
  belongs_to :shop

## Models

class Photo < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_many_polymorphs :attachables, 
    :from => [:galleries, :notes], 

chloe:~/projects/miscellaneous/cookbook eweaver$ script/console 
Loading development environment.
>> Tag
=> Tag
>> Recipe.find_by_title("freezepop").taggers << Tag.create(:name => "ice")