JRuby: Caffeinated Ruby
27/Apr 2007
Recently, JRuby has been gaining more and more attention in the Java and Ruby communities. Java is a powerful platform and there are millions of lines of Java code being written each month, that the world will have to live with for a long time from now. By leveraging Java the platform with the power of the Ruby programming language, programmers get the best from both worlds. You better not ignore JRuby any more!
What is JRuby?
JRuby is a 100% pure-Java implementation of the Ruby programming language that runs in the JVM. JRuby’s creators, Thomas Enebo and Charles Nutter, have been hired by Sun to work on JRuby full time. The current JRuby release 0.9.9 is fully compatible with Ruby 1.8.5.
Ola Bini says that “JRuby is ready for prime time. Application developers should try their applications on JRuby NOW.”
So, I decided to take a quick look at JRuby and found it very easy to use.
Download and Setup:
- The JRuby distribution comes as a tar.gz file, namely jruby-bin-0.9.9.tar.gz
- Uncompress the archive; you should end up with a jruby-0.9.9 folder.
- In Windows, set the system environment variable JRUBY_HOME to C:\jruby-0.9.9 I am assuming that you have uncompressed JRuby to C:
- Also, set the system environment variable path to C:\jruby-0.9.9\bin;
- The JRuby distribution’s bin directory contains the jruby.bat file that is used to run the JRuby interpreter. Run the command jruby -version from the command line to test that the JRuby is working. On my PC, it said:\ ruby 1.8.5 (2007-04-23 rev 3539) [x86-jruby0.9.9]
Where to use JRuby?:
a. JRuby allows Ruby programs to use Java classes. This is a powerful concept that JRuby now brings to Ruby users. My Ruby/Tk Tutorial has a program p075hellotk1.rb that uses Ruby/Tk a graphical user interface. However, the documentation for Ruby/Tk is extremely poor and I would be comfortable in using Java Swing instead. The code in JRuby for the program p075hellotk1.rb can be something like this:
javaSwingHello.rb
require ‘java’ # Line 2 JFrame = javax.swing.JFrame JLabel = javax.swing.JLabel frame = JFrame.new jlabel = JLabel.new(“Hello World”) frame.add(jlabel) frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame::EXIT_ON_CLOSE) frame.pack frame.setVisible(true)
Run the above program from the command line as follows:
jruby javaSwingHello.rb
Line 2: The second line of the above program enables JRuby’s Java support and allows a Ruby program to use Java classes.
b. Calling JRuby from Java. JRuby can just as easily be called from Java, using either the JSR 223 Scripting for Java 6 or the Apache Bean Scripting framework. More information on this is available in the JRuby Wiki
c. Running Rails with JRuby. The advantages are obvious. To quote the JRuby Wiki:
- Gives Rails the power and functionality of Java: Virtual Machine, application servers, and libraries.
- With future JVM and JRuby improvements, JRuby may be faster than Matz’ Ruby Interpreter in running Rails
- Gets Rails in the door of Java shops by making Rails apps into Java-platform apps.
To conclude, I am surely liking JRuby and would definitely explore it further. Ignore JRuby at your own peril !
Resources:
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