Hi Josh,

In macirb, I use:
load "actionAffiche.rb"
461 queries, real time: 11.578257s

In Xcode:
I use rubygems and mysql macgems
I have one Button and one table with two columns: when I press the button, the function actionAffiche is running. I think that it's a complete minimal example.
461 queries, real time: 64.244236s
Apart MainMenu.xib, all my code is in AppDelegate.rb. I put this file at the end of this mail (Is there a better way?)

I don't have control on mysql tables since they come from another software.

I am a novice, then you can criticize my code :)

Regards,
François

-------
#
#  AppDelegate.rb
#  ecm: exemple complet minimal
#
#  Created by Boone François on 11-12-21.
#  Copyright 2011 Boone François. All rights reserved.
#

require 'rubygems'
require 'mysql'

$data = []

class AppDelegate
   attr_accessor :window
   def applicationDidFinishLaunching(a_notification)
       # Insert code here to initialize your application
   end
end

class CtrButton
   attr_writer :individu

   def awakeFromNib
       @individu.dataSource = self
       $ref_individu = @individu
   end

   def affiche(sender)
       actionAffiche
   end

   def numberOfRowsInTableView(individu)
       $data.size
   end

   def tableView(individu, objectValueForTableColumn:column, row:index)
       item = $data[index]
       case column.identifier
           when 'iden'
           item.iden
           when 'name'
           item.name
       end
   end
end

class Person
   attr_accessor :iden, :name
end

def actionAffiche

   t1 = Time.now
   # Connexion au serveur MySQL
   begin
       dbh = Mysql.real_connect("localhost", "root", "", "Boone")
       ## Récupération de la version du serveur et affichage
       puts "Version du serveur: " + dbh.get_server_info
       rescue Mysql::Error => e
       puts "Code d'erreur : #{e.errno}"
       puts "Message d'erreur : #{e.error}"
       puts "SQLSTATE d'erreur : #{e.sqlstate}" if e.respond_to?("sqlstate")
       ensure
       dbh.query("SET NAMES utf8")
   end

   # Requête pour le nom de famille
   dbh.query("SET NAMES utf8")
   requete = "SELECT handle,surname FROM surname ORDER BY surname"
   reponse = dbh.query(requete)

   num_max = reponse.num_rows
   num = 1

   # Pour chaque nom de famille, on cherche le prenom
   reponse.each_hash do |lastname|
       puts "Individu " + num.to_s + " sur " + num_max.to_s
       individu = Person.new
       individu.iden = lastname["handle"]
       individu.name = lastname["surname"]
       # pour chaque nom, recherche du prenom à partir du handle.
       requete2 = "SELECT first_name,xcall FROM name WHERE handle ='" + lastname["handle"] + "'"
       reponse2 = dbh.query(requete2)
       reponse2.each_hash do |firstname|
           individu.name = individu.name + ", " + firstname["first_name"]
           if firstname["xcall"] != ""
               individu.name = individu.name + " (" + firstname["xcall"] + ")"
           end
       end

       $data.push(individu)
       num += 1
   end

   # On ferme le lien mySQL
   dbh.close

   t2 = Time.now
   puts (t2-t1)
   # Mise à jour de l'interface
   $ref_individu.reloadData
end