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Is Rails 3.1 going to depend on having both a ruby interpreter and a JS interpreter (presumably node?) capable of running coffeescript installed?

sabat 16y ago
CoffeeScript isn't interpreted; it's not its own language. You write CoffeeScript code, which resembles simplified and cleaned-up Javascript, and then run a parser over it which converts it to standard Javascript. You'll need CoffeeScript (gem) installed in this situation, but that's just another Rails dependency. EDIT: I should point out that Rails will use CoffeeScript for client-side (browser) code, not server-side code. That remains Ruby and associated DSLs.
- bonzoesc 16y ago
  The coffeescript compiler is written in coffeescript (and compiled to JS), so in order to serve a .coffee file you'll need to compile it, which requires JS. The commits add a dependency to the coffee-script[1] gem, which requires the execjs[2] gem, which requires some way of running JS. 1: https://github.com/josh/ruby-coffee-script https://github.com/josh/ruby-coffee-script 2: https://github.com/sstephenson/execjs https://github.com/sstephenson/execjs
  - thenduks 16y ago
    If you don't have a method of running JS available then everything will be as it was. This change only introduces the default contents of a rails app's Gemfile (/bundle) and it's generators.
  - sabat 16y ago
    I didn't realize it was more than a parser; thx for the info.
JonnieCache 16y ago
No. Coffeescript is not going to be run inside the rails stack. That would be controversial. All that's happening is by default the scaffolding generator scripts will spit out boilerplate coffeescript rather then boilerplate javascript. All that's needed to change back is to comment out a single, clearly marked line of code.
sstephenson 16y ago
The coffee-script gem (https://github.com/josh/ruby-coffee-script https://github.com/josh/ruby-coffee-script) uses ExecJS (https://github.com/sstephenson/execjs https://github.com/sstephenson/execjs) to invoke the CS compiler. Rails 3.1's asset pipelining system will use these gems by way of Sprockets 2 (https://github.com/sstephenson/sprockets https://github.com/sstephenson/sprockets) to compile and serve CoffeeScript to the browser. If you're on Windows or Mac OS, ExecJS will use the JS runtime already installed on your system (Windows Script Host or Apple JavaScriptCore). You can also install a gem like therubyracer (V8 for MRI, available on Heroku) or therubyrhino (Rhino for JRuby) for faster compilation. And ExecJS can use Node.js or Spidermonkey if they're installed too.
- dreyfiz 16y ago
  I’ve heard a little about it, but is there any documentation anywhere about this new asset pipelining system in 3.1? You seem well-informed about it.

sabat 16y ago

CoffeeScript isn't interpreted; it's not its own language. You write CoffeeScript code, which resembles simplified and cleaned-up Javascript, and then run a parser over it which converts it to standard Javascript. You'll need CoffeeScript (gem) installed in this situation, but that's just another Rails dependency. EDIT: I should point out that Rails will use CoffeeScript for client-side (browser) code, not server-side code. That remains Ruby and associated DSLs.

bonzoesc 16y ago
The coffeescript compiler is written in coffeescript (and compiled to JS), so in order to serve a .coffee file you'll need to compile it, which requires JS. The commits add a dependency to the coffee-script[1] gem, which requires the execjs[2] gem, which requires some way of running JS. 1: https://github.com/josh/ruby-coffee-script https://github.com/josh/ruby-coffee-script 2: https://github.com/sstephenson/execjs https://github.com/sstephenson/execjs
- thenduks 16y ago
  If you don't have a method of running JS available then everything will be as it was. This change only introduces the default contents of a rails app's Gemfile (/bundle) and it's generators.
- sabat 16y ago
  I didn't realize it was more than a parser; thx for the info.

JonnieCache 16y ago

No. Coffeescript is not going to be run inside the rails stack. That would be controversial. All that's happening is by default the scaffolding generator scripts will spit out boilerplate coffeescript rather then boilerplate javascript. All that's needed to change back is to comment out a single, clearly marked line of code.

sstephenson 16y ago

The coffee-script gem (https://github.com/josh/ruby-coffee-script https://github.com/josh/ruby-coffee-script) uses ExecJS (https://github.com/sstephenson/execjs https://github.com/sstephenson/execjs) to invoke the CS compiler. Rails 3.1's asset pipelining system will use these gems by way of Sprockets 2 (https://github.com/sstephenson/sprockets https://github.com/sstephenson/sprockets) to compile and serve CoffeeScript to the browser. If you're on Windows or Mac OS, ExecJS will use the JS runtime already installed on your system (Windows Script Host or Apple JavaScriptCore). You can also install a gem like therubyracer (V8 for MRI, available on Heroku) or therubyrhino (Rhino for JRuby) for faster compilation. And ExecJS can use Node.js or Spidermonkey if they're installed too.

dreyfiz 16y ago
I’ve heard a little about it, but is there any documentation anywhere about this new asset pipelining system in 3.1? You seem well-informed about it.