perf(Request): Improved performance when no query string is present

bench/create.py

@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ def create_falcon(body, headers):
     class HelloResource:
         def on_get(self, req, resp, account_id):
             user_agent = req.user_agent  # NOQA
-            limit = req.get_param('limit', '10')  # NOQA
+            limit = req.get_param('limit') or '10'  # NOQA
             resp.data = body
             # if six.PY3:
             #     resp.body = body

falcon/request.py

@@ -87,8 +87,12 @@ class Request(object):
         else:
             self.query_string = ''
 
-        #if query_string
-        self._params = helpers.parse_query_string(self.query_string)
+        # PERF: Don't parse it if we don't have to!
+        if self.query_string:
+            self._params = helpers.parse_query_string(self.query_string)
+        else:
+            self._params = {}
+
         self._headers = helpers.parse_headers(env)
 
     def log_error(self, message):