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One thing I'd appreciate with these kinds of announcements is a "what is it" paragraph preferably towards the top of the referenced web page. I suppose if I wer

by bruceba 16y ago

One thing I'd appreciate with these kinds of announcements is a "what is it" paragraph preferably towards the top of the referenced web page. I suppose if I were working in Ruby I'd know what Rubinius is and why I'd care but a list of "what is new" doesn't particularly help me or folk like me.

tptacek 16y ago
If you worked in Ruby you'd definitely know that Rubinius is one of the next-gen Ruby VMs. Since you don't work in Ruby, the whole project matters a lot less to you.
SkyMarshal 16y ago
Was going to say the same thing. Just looked through the site trying to find exactly what it is, and all I got is: 1. It's a Ruby implementation. 2. It's mostly compatible w/ Ruby & its components (Rails, gems, etc.) but not completely. 3. ... ? An About page would be nice - answer these questions, among others: 1. What is Rubinious? 2. What differentiates it from Ruby? 3. What problems does it solve? 4. Why would Ruby programmers want to use it? 5. Why would non-Ruby programmers want to use it?
- alexitosrv 16y ago
  I'm so clueless as you. From http://rubini.us http://rubini.us you can read "An environment for Ruby, the programming language that provides performance balanced with accessibility, focusing on improving programming productivity" The thing is, in this context, what is "an environment for ruby"?
telemachos 16y ago
Here's Wayne Seguin's take on Rubinius (he's the developer behind rvm, and he puts it nicely, I think): Rubinius is a ruby interpreter written in C++ using many advanced techniques and technologies such as LLVM, a "precise, compacting, generational garbage collector", a compatible C extension api to standard MRI Ruby and many other awesome ideas that will give any language nut a huge nerdon. (from http://rvm.beginrescueend.com/interpreters/rbx/ http://rvm.beginrescueend.com/interpreters/rbx/)
- daveungerer 16y ago
  Actually, his take on it isn't quite accurate. It's not "written in C++". From http://rubini.us http://rubini.us : Wherever possible Rubinius is written in Ruby. Where not possible (yet), it's C++. And further down: The Rubinius bytecode virtual machine is written in C++, incorporating LLVM to compile bytecode to machine code at runtime. The bytecode compiler and vast majority of the core classes are written in pure Ruby. So, it's the VM that's C++. The bytecode compiler (which is technically what's meant by "interpreter" in this case) is ruby.
  - evanphx 16y ago
    Well, not exactly. The interpreter is in C++. By bytecode compiler he means the code that translates from a ruby AST into bytecode, which is in ruby.
    - daveungerer 16y ago
      Sure, but the point I'm trying to make is that Wayne Seguin was using the word "interpreter" colloquially to refer to the whole program, in effect saying that the whole code base is C++.

by bruceba 16y ago

tptacek 16y ago

If you worked in Ruby you'd definitely know that Rubinius is one of the next-gen Ruby VMs. Since you don't work in Ruby, the whole project matters a lot less to you.

SkyMarshal 16y ago

Was going to say the same thing. Just looked through the site trying to find exactly what it is, and all I got is: 1. It's a Ruby implementation. 2. It's mostly compatible w/ Ruby & its components (Rails, gems, etc.) but not completely. 3. ... ? An About page would be nice - answer these questions, among others: 1. What is Rubinious? 2. What differentiates it from Ruby? 3. What problems does it solve? 4. Why would Ruby programmers want to use it? 5. Why would non-Ruby programmers want to use it?

alexitosrv 16y ago
I'm so clueless as you. From http://rubini.us http://rubini.us you can read "An environment for Ruby, the programming language that provides performance balanced with accessibility, focusing on improving programming productivity" The thing is, in this context, what is "an environment for ruby"?

telemachos 16y ago

Here's Wayne Seguin's take on Rubinius (he's the developer behind rvm, and he puts it nicely, I think): Rubinius is a ruby interpreter written in C++ using many advanced techniques and technologies such as LLVM, a "precise, compacting, generational garbage collector", a compatible C extension api to standard MRI Ruby and many other awesome ideas that will give any language nut a huge nerdon. (from http://rvm.beginrescueend.com/interpreters/rbx/ http://rvm.beginrescueend.com/interpreters/rbx/)

daveungerer 16y ago
Actually, his take on it isn't quite accurate. It's not "written in C++". From http://rubini.us http://rubini.us : Wherever possible Rubinius is written in Ruby. Where not possible (yet), it's C++. And further down: The Rubinius bytecode virtual machine is written in C++, incorporating LLVM to compile bytecode to machine code at runtime. The bytecode compiler and vast majority of the core classes are written in pure Ruby. So, it's the VM that's C++. The bytecode compiler (which is technically what's meant by "interpreter" in this case) is ruby.
- evanphx 16y ago
  Well, not exactly. The interpreter is in C++. By bytecode compiler he means the code that translates from a ruby AST into bytecode, which is in ruby.
  - daveungerer 16y ago
    Sure, but the point I'm trying to make is that Wayne Seguin was using the word "interpreter" colloquially to refer to the whole program, in effect saying that the whole code base is C++.