From: Ash <smashwilson@...>
Date: 2007-04-10T09:50:10+09:00
Subject: Re: Infinate Loop - Please Advise

On Apr 9, 2:17 pm, John Joyce <dangerwillrobinsondan...@gmail.com>
wrote:
> - snip -
> I did, a few moments later. doing that stuff in irb isn't always as
> easy as doing it in TextMate (note to self).
> I like irb because I can just ask objects questions. But irb needs
> more flexibility (the ability to step into and out of writing a block
> to check something else, that would be useful) Access to all the
> running stuff and ability to change it while running. Oh.
> self.assend_to_heaven

So basically, you want Smalltalk :-)

If you're unfamiliar, Smalltalk lives in an 'image' which offers the
flexibility you describe, with a full-GUI IDE environment -- you can
inspect and manipulate live objects and code as you develop, test and
debug.

I've actually considered building a similar environment for Ruby,
should I find the time and as wxRuby becomes more stable.  As a matter
of fact, I believe I remember reading on here that FreeRIDE was
developed with that particular aim in mind.

On one hand it seems superfluous, since Smalltalk already has one, but
on the other it would be a great deal of fun to do so, and it seems
like a fit with the language given Ruby's Smalltalk heritage.