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I think Apple might want to switch to Ruby in the future. Some Apple employees are still actively working on MacRuby and it is actually possible now to create i

by wsc981 14y ago

I think Apple might want to switch to Ruby in the future. Some Apple employees are still actively working on MacRuby and it is actually possible now to create iOS apps with Ruby through RubyMotion. http://www.rubymotion.com/ http://www.rubymotion.com/

deleted 14y ago
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jawngee 14y ago
I think it's more like you want Apple to want to switch to Ruby. But it ain't going to happen. They need the drop down to C without the run around.
jballanc 14y ago
Actually, all of the Apple employees working on MacRuby have since left. Apple will not be moving to Ruby in the near future unless something drastic happens. That said, so long as the Obj-C runtime is documented and well designed (and it is!), then anyone that cares to can interoperate with Obj-C with a bit of work, a la RubyMotion.
randomdata 14y ago
I won't decry having options, but I am not sure what Apple would stand to gain by switching the first-class language of their platform to Ruby. If you look at any RubyMotion code, it ends up being an almost line-per-line copy of the equivalent Objective-C code. Given that the languages come from the same lineage, it is not even a big jump to switch between them from a developer's point of view. The thing that really stood out when I was learning Objective-C is that it essentially was Ruby, just with some C thrown in. I often wonder if people go in thinking Obj-C is some kind of worse version of C++ and then miss what the language really has to offer. While it is certainly not perfect, I'm constantly amazed at how elegant the design of the language really is. Ruby could shine if Apple were to create a whole new set of APIs based around the language, but that would mean throwing away nearly 25 years or work. It would be a tremendous undertaking for what could be positive gain, but is just as likely to introduce a whole new world of problems, especially in the early years. Official support for Ruby would certainly be welcome, but I don't see benefits in outright switching; not without also removing the Objective-C APIs from the equation and creating a whole new platform that centres around Ruby.

by wsc981 14y ago

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

jawngee 14y ago

I think it's more like you want Apple to want to switch to Ruby. But it ain't going to happen. They need the drop down to C without the run around.

jballanc 14y ago

Actually, all of the Apple employees working on MacRuby have since left. Apple will not be moving to Ruby in the near future unless something drastic happens. That said, so long as the Obj-C runtime is documented and well designed (and it is!), then anyone that cares to can interoperate with Obj-C with a bit of work, a la RubyMotion.

randomdata 14y ago

I won't decry having options, but I am not sure what Apple would stand to gain by switching the first-class language of their platform to Ruby. If you look at any RubyMotion code, it ends up being an almost line-per-line copy of the equivalent Objective-C code. Given that the languages come from the same lineage, it is not even a big jump to switch between them from a developer's point of view. The thing that really stood out when I was learning Objective-C is that it essentially was Ruby, just with some C thrown in. I often wonder if people go in thinking Obj-C is some kind of worse version of C++ and then miss what the language really has to offer. While it is certainly not perfect, I'm constantly amazed at how elegant the design of the language really is. Ruby could shine if Apple were to create a whole new set of APIs based around the language, but that would mean throwing away nearly 25 years or work. It would be a tremendous undertaking for what could be positive gain, but is just as likely to introduce a whole new world of problems, especially in the early years. Official support for Ruby would certainly be welcome, but I don't see benefits in outright switching; not without also removing the Objective-C APIs from the equation and creating a whole new platform that centres around Ruby.