June 6, 2006
New players in the development arena are Ruby, an object-oriented scripting language, and Ruby on Rails, a framework for rapidly developing database-backed web applications according to
the Model-View-Control pattern. These two "Rubies" are shaking up the Java space, but interest on the .NET side of development is growing as well. Ruby is not without its controversy, as
material below indicates. But it is clearly of interest, and thus we provide an assortment of links. TheServerSide.NET has put together this collection of discussions and news items that deal
with Ruby.
Let us know your thoughts on Ruby. And as always, feel free to email assistant editor Regina Lynch (rlynch@techtarget.com) with any additional
ideas for this guide.
Discussions
When people talk about languages they generally use terms such as "hammer," "nail" and other such analogies. In his blog, Kevin attacks the notion of using the tool analogy when talking
about languages. He goes on to explain using some very compelling arguments that languages change the way we think about problems where-as tools may not.
In keeping with tradition, Ted Neward has made 14 tech predictions for 2006 and even a few that extend into 2007. Included in this list is Neward's prediction that Ruby will fail (and
that failure will most likely come from a very large Ruby project that is currently being under-taken by a fairly significant consulting firm) and in doing so release an anti-Ruby
backlash.
Monad or Ruby? Ruby or Monad? That debate is on the mind of many a developer in the market for a scripting language. Experts Ted Neward and Glenn Vanderburg fall on opposite sides of the
divide.
News and updates
The Queensland (Australia) University of Technology is in the early stages of a project that would implement Ruby on the .NET CLR, Bertrand Le Roy writes here in his blog.
The Java world unveiled its own Ruby implementation, JRuby, at the recent JavaOne conference, InternetNews writes here. While JRuby has the backing of Sun, Microsoft has said nothing
about IronRuby, and a consultant told InternetNews that the company probably isn't too thrilled about the project.
John Lam has released the third version of its RubyCLR .Net/Ruby bridge, including a Windows Presentation Foundation (aka Avalon) sample that renders math equations using a domain
specific language.
Wilco Bauwer has posted samples for IronRuby, which is Ruby on the .NET Common Language Runtime. Bauwer's blog post can be seen here.
Ruby's raise on the Java camp is adding interest and activity in the dynamic languages world. As proof of this, IronPython (the extra-official Microsoft Python implementation)
has released its fourth beta in three months.
Castle Project has released the alpha version of ActiveRecord, and the beta 2 of the Inversion of Control container, Castle on Rails (inspired by Ruby on Rails). Castle on Rails is
a Web framework for .Net with Ajax support.
Resources from around the Web
Ruby on Rails is a Web framework but also integrates its own ORM, ActiveRecrod. Hibernate Quickly co-author Patrick Peak has written a hands-on comparison between Hibernate and
Rails Active Record, concluding that while Rails is well suited for pure CRUD/smaller projects, its ORM layer lacks a number of essential features required for larger projects.
On this site you'll find Ruby news, projects, downloads and documentation.
rubydotnet is a .NET interop Ruby extension module. Visit this site for samples and downloads.
A Ruby to .NET bridge that allows integration of CLR and Ruby objects in the same Win32 process. Use it to create rich client applications using the Windows
Forms or Windows Presentation Foundation libraries.
An online version of the first edition of this text, which includes information and instruction of various aspects of Ruby. A second edition is also available.
Authors
 | Regina Lynch is assistant editor for TheServerSide.NET. You can reach her with questions or suggestions for the site at RLynch@techtarget.com.
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