From: Sean O'Halpin <sean.ohalpin@...>
Date: 2008-11-05T13:13:02+09:00
Subject: Re: FFI 0.1.1 (Foreign Function Interface) for Ruby 1.8.6/7 and 1.9

On Tue, Nov 4, 2008 at 7:02 PM, Charles Oliver Nutter
<charles.nutter@sun.com> wrote:
> I'd recommend folks start releasing FFI-based "thin wrappers" for each
> library they come across, and then depend on that gem. Don't go over the
> top...just get the basic bindings in there, structs, tests to make sure it's
> all working, and release a gem. Then build nice APIs on top of that,
> separately.
>
> One of my biggest gripes about C extensions in Ruby is that everyone feels
> the need to release their own wrapper PLUS Ruby-like API in a single gem,
> when just releasing the wrapper would allow a lot more experimentation. So
> you end up with multiple people writing their own extensions with their own
> APIs and little sharing.
>
> If we just get a whole ton of, simple, clean wrappers out there, the APIs
> will surely follow.
>
> - Charlie
>

Maybe I wasn't clear - what you're proposing is exactly what I
intended to convey. Thin wrapper in a single gem. Any abstractions
should be separate gems.

Regards,
Sean