From: Alan Chen <alan@...>
Date: 2002-12-19T08:31:02+09:00
Subject: Re: Why a compiled Ruby?

On Thu, Dec 19, 2002 at 07:59:49AM +0900, Daniel Carrera wrote:
> I'd also like to see  compiler for the purpose of ease of distribution.
> 
> The Perl guys are working on Parrot.  Does anyone know how exactly Parrot
> works?  Is it akin to Java's JVM?  I ask because, if it is, we could
> compile Ruby for the Parrot bytecode instead of machine code.  Then Ruby
> could be "compile once, run everywhere", a la Java.
> 
> Another thought is to compile Ruby to the?.NET CLI.  The Mono project is
> making good progress.  If it catches on in Linuxland, thisf might be an
> option.
> 
> Daniel Carrera
> Graduate Teaching Assistant.  Math Dept.
> University of Maryland.  (301) 405-5137

What I'm curious about is that if you use a VM don't you still have to
make sure the VM is distributed? What is the comparative size of a given
VM vs interpreter? 

Now if you use Java, you have the best chance of the user already
having the correct VM on their machine.  BTW, since you mention Java,
uou might be interested in the jruby project.

http://jruby.sourceforge.net/


-- 
Alan Chen
Digikata Computing
http://digikata.com