4 ms·

Opal-native – React Native in Ruby

82 points by tilt 11y ago

obilgic 11y ago
Also check out React.rb [0] ruby wrapper for react [0]: https://github.com/zetachang/react.rb https://github.com/zetachang/react.rb
AlwaysBCoding 11y ago
This is awesome. I'm really curious to see if the Ruby community will ever fully embrace something like Opal. Having used ClojureScript a bunch it's pretty nice to compile whatever backend programming language you're using to Javascript to use in your UI. Makes it really easy to share data structures between the front and back end. Would be really interesting to see more Ruby code written this way.
- seivan 11y ago
  I think the term is isomorphic, but I am not sure. For Ruby you can look at http://voltframework.com http://voltframework.com - uses Opal underneath.
  - sgrove 11y ago
    I believe isomorphic has fallen out of favor (as it's being reclaimed for its original specific meaning) compared to Universal.
    - abritinthebay 11y ago
      on HN maybe. Nowhere else.
      - girvo 11y ago
        Interestingly, on a number of libraries and blogs I've come across recently, too. It seems to be gaining at least _some_ ground.
        abritinthebay 11y ago
        Perhaps but it won't help it's case that it's actually wrong. Isomorphic is correct - they share similar structures but often aren't the exact same. Universal implies a level of parity on server and client that just isn't there in almost all apps that are isomorphic. It's just plain wrong.
- 15155 11y ago
  To be fair, on that front, Clojure is a dramatically more simple language. edn is a really well defined set of primitives. Ruby has an incredible amount of cruft, gotchas, and a massive stdlib.
- fkchang2000 11y ago
  As someone who has been trying to spread the word on Opal for a few years (including this talk http://funkworks.blogspot.com/2014/01/opal-new-hope-for-ruby-programmers.html http://funkworks.blogspot.com/2014/01/opal-new-hope-for-ruby... for full affect, For watching the video I would start with the uncensored https://vimeo.com/82573680 https://vimeo.com/82573680 and then switch to http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=GH9FAfKG-qY#t=170 http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=GH9... when it's done), it surprises how little interest the Ruby community has taken in opal. I would in part attribute this to not enough documentation and examples, but otherwise I'm surprised. This is about as comprehensive a list of opal resources as exists ATM
  - fkchang2000 11y ago
    This is the resources link I forgot to post http://metaruby.com/t/opal-resources/201 http://metaruby.com/t/opal-resources/201
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
seniorsassycat 11y ago
This is the first time I've heard of Opal (and I think it's pretty neat). Has anyone written about sharing ruby code between the frontend and backend with Opal (or something like it)?
- ch4s3 11y ago
  Volt http://voltframework.com/ http://voltframework.com/, and Clearwater https://github.com/clearwater-rb/clearwater https://github.com/clearwater-rb/clearwater are exactly what you're looking for
- rickcarlino 11y ago
  I've been blogging about it as hard as I can over at http://datamelon.io/blog http://datamelon.io/blog . Hope that more people spread the word- it's going to be an amazing technology.
  - thirdsun 11y ago
    Thanks for that, I've been following your series - good stuff. Personally, I might jump into Volt once it becomes more mature.
- nolite 11y ago
  This might seem like a dumb question... but why not just write javascript if you want javascript?
  - rurounijones 11y ago
    For a multitude of reasons. * Some people don't want to context switch between a different front-end and back-end language. * Some people want everything in one language / environment for easier deployment / tooling / package management * Some people just plain hate writing Javascript.
- fkchang2000 11y ago
  I've written a fair amount via this tag on my blog http://funkworks.blogspot.com/search/label/opal http://funkworks.blogspot.com/search/label/opal I'm committed to providing content for opal newsletter http://opalist.curated.co/issues http://opalist.curated.co/issues so that will be ongoing. Hope there's some interesting info in there
ylluminate 11y ago
You may be interested in the opal-phaser game development library / wrapper: https://github.com/orbitalimpact/opal-phaser https://github.com/orbitalimpact/opal-phaser
jaredcwhite 11y ago
The interesting question that Opal brings to the forefront is to what degree do Rubyists, like myself, use Ruby for the exact toolset it provides (aka everything in the MRI, all the gems, Rails or Sinatra, etc.), or to a certain extent because of the syntax and design principles found in corelib/stdlib and third-party DSLs, etc. -- aka the "Ruby way". In my case, I've discovered that I love Ruby as a language/philosophy even more than I love Ruby as it's been precisely defined for the last couple of decades. And so, what that means is that "alternative" flavors of Ruby, like RubyMotion for native iOS and Android dev, and Opal for compile-to-JS scenarios like browser-based client-side development (or even Node.js-based development), are extremely appealing to me. I'm even interested in non-Ruby languages that are heavily influenced by Ruby such as Crystal. I should note at this point I'm pretty heavily invested in the Opal ecosystem (I'm the publisher of the http://www.opalist.co http://www.opalist.co newsletter for instance) and have shipped production apps that include real-world Opal code, so of course I want the project to be successful. But I came to that conclusion in part because I took a hard, hard look at the future of web development and decided I simply did not want a career as a Javascript programmer. Sure, I can write advanced, modular, well-crafted JS code. But can and want to are two different things. :)

82 points by tilt 11y ago

Also check out React.rb [0] ruby wrapper for react [0]: https://github.com/zetachang/react.rb https://github.com/zetachang/react.rb

AlwaysBCoding 11y ago

This is awesome. I'm really curious to see if the Ruby community will ever fully embrace something like Opal. Having used ClojureScript a bunch it's pretty nice to compile whatever backend programming language you're using to Javascript to use in your UI. Makes it really easy to share data structures between the front and back end. Would be really interesting to see more Ruby code written this way.

seivan 11y ago
I think the term is isomorphic, but I am not sure. For Ruby you can look at http://voltframework.com http://voltframework.com - uses Opal underneath.
- sgrove 11y ago
  I believe isomorphic has fallen out of favor (as it's being reclaimed for its original specific meaning) compared to Universal.
  - abritinthebay 11y ago
    on HN maybe. Nowhere else.
    - girvo 11y ago
      Interestingly, on a number of libraries and blogs I've come across recently, too. It seems to be gaining at least _some_ ground.
      - abritinthebay 11y ago
        Perhaps but it won't help it's case that it's actually wrong. Isomorphic is correct - they share similar structures but often aren't the exact same. Universal implies a level of parity on server and client that just isn't there in almost all apps that are isomorphic. It's just plain wrong.
15155 11y ago
To be fair, on that front, Clojure is a dramatically more simple language. edn is a really well defined set of primitives. Ruby has an incredible amount of cruft, gotchas, and a massive stdlib.
fkchang2000 11y ago
As someone who has been trying to spread the word on Opal for a few years (including this talk http://funkworks.blogspot.com/2014/01/opal-new-hope-for-ruby-programmers.html http://funkworks.blogspot.com/2014/01/opal-new-hope-for-ruby... for full affect, For watching the video I would start with the uncensored https://vimeo.com/82573680 https://vimeo.com/82573680 and then switch to http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=GH9FAfKG-qY#t=170 http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=GH9... when it's done), it surprises how little interest the Ruby community has taken in opal. I would in part attribute this to not enough documentation and examples, but otherwise I'm surprised. This is about as comprehensive a list of opal resources as exists ATM
- fkchang2000 11y ago
  This is the resources link I forgot to post http://metaruby.com/t/opal-resources/201 http://metaruby.com/t/opal-resources/201

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

seniorsassycat 11y ago

This is the first time I've heard of Opal (and I think it's pretty neat). Has anyone written about sharing ruby code between the frontend and backend with Opal (or something like it)?

ch4s3 11y ago
Volt http://voltframework.com/ http://voltframework.com/, and Clearwater https://github.com/clearwater-rb/clearwater https://github.com/clearwater-rb/clearwater are exactly what you're looking for
rickcarlino 11y ago
I've been blogging about it as hard as I can over at http://datamelon.io/blog http://datamelon.io/blog . Hope that more people spread the word- it's going to be an amazing technology.
- thirdsun 11y ago
  Thanks for that, I've been following your series - good stuff. Personally, I might jump into Volt once it becomes more mature.
nolite 11y ago
This might seem like a dumb question... but why not just write javascript if you want javascript?
- rurounijones 11y ago
  For a multitude of reasons. * Some people don't want to context switch between a different front-end and back-end language. * Some people want everything in one language / environment for easier deployment / tooling / package management * Some people just plain hate writing Javascript.
fkchang2000 11y ago
I've written a fair amount via this tag on my blog http://funkworks.blogspot.com/search/label/opal http://funkworks.blogspot.com/search/label/opal I'm committed to providing content for opal newsletter http://opalist.curated.co/issues http://opalist.curated.co/issues so that will be ongoing. Hope there's some interesting info in there

ylluminate 11y ago

You may be interested in the opal-phaser game development library / wrapper: https://github.com/orbitalimpact/opal-phaser https://github.com/orbitalimpact/opal-phaser

jaredcwhite 11y ago

The interesting question that Opal brings to the forefront is to what degree do Rubyists, like myself, use Ruby for the exact toolset it provides (aka everything in the MRI, all the gems, Rails or Sinatra, etc.), or to a certain extent because of the syntax and design principles found in corelib/stdlib and third-party DSLs, etc. -- aka the "Ruby way". In my case, I've discovered that I love Ruby as a language/philosophy even more than I love Ruby as it's been precisely defined for the last couple of decades. And so, what that means is that "alternative" flavors of Ruby, like RubyMotion for native iOS and Android dev, and Opal for compile-to-JS scenarios like browser-based client-side development (or even Node.js-based development), are extremely appealing to me. I'm even interested in non-Ruby languages that are heavily influenced by Ruby such as Crystal. I should note at this point I'm pretty heavily invested in the Opal ecosystem (I'm the publisher of the http://www.opalist.co http://www.opalist.co newsletter for instance) and have shipped production apps that include real-world Opal code, so of course I want the project to be successful. But I came to that conclusion in part because I took a hard, hard look at the future of web development and decided I simply did not want a career as a Javascript programmer. Sure, I can write advanced, modular, well-crafted JS code. But can and want to are two different things. :)