From: Tom Cloyd <tomcloyd@...>
Date: 2008-06-08T13:34:32+09:00
Subject: Re: Desktop multi-plataform ruby app

James Britt wrote:
> Tom Cloyd wrote:
>
>> This all sounds very interesting, and I want to investigate it, but I 
>> dread having to deal with the java monster. I've been there before. 
>
> So have I.    And David created Monkeybars to avoid all that.
>
> Seriously, you can write desktop apps that use Swing and run under 
> JRuby and never look at a line of Java.  That's basically the whole 
> point.
>
> We wanted whatever was good we could glom from Java, while avoiding 
> having to write any actual Java ourselves.
>
>
>> Forty-five+ versions, all with 26 letter names, and documentation 
>> that requires a masters in CS to decypher. I simply cannot know 
>> everything, and I'm pretty committed in a couple of other fields. 
>> Still, I have programming to get done, and drag and drop GUI that 
>> doesn't require yet another book to read would be a blessing.
>>
>
> Monkeybars.  It uses reflection and naming conventions to interact 
> with the UI components so that you stick to Ruby.
>
>
>> So, onward, again. I try to install Netbeans 6 for Linux. Says it 
>> want a JDK (the dread starts now). I'm on Kubuntu, so I go to Adept, 
>> find sun-jave6-jdk - nothing else looks more likely - and install it. 
>> Now Netbeans says it can't find it and I need to point the way. Huh? 
>> Don't have a clue.
>
> Better off grabbing the JDB+NetBeans bundle from netbeans.org, then 
> once installed telling NetBeans to install the Ruby plugins.
>
> There is a screencast on monkeybars.org that goes through the 
> installation of NetBeans:
>
> http://monkeybars.rubyforge.org/tutorials/netbeans.html
>
>
Yeah, I'm sold. Did a brief scan of the website and immediately liked 
what I saw. Monkeybars looks slick. Heck, *I* might even be able to 
understand it! Hope springs eternal, yessir. So, I'm all installed and 
ready to have a swing at it, as soon as I find a free moment.

All the dependencies, etc., DOES look (in the mind) a bit scary, but 
I've found that if one give the Big Boys a few months, they generally 
get things wired together so they Just Work. And beyond that, there's 
the marvelous Ruby community. Rare has been the time that I haven't 
gotten an answer back to whatever problem I've posted about - in under 
an hour. Phenomenal, actually. The rest of life should be so good!

t.

-- 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tom Cloyd, MS MA, LMHC
Private practice Psychotherapist
Bellingham, Washington, U.S.A: (360) 920-1226
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