From: Benjamin Schroeder <benschroeder@...>
Date: 2003-09-14T08:51:15+09:00
Subject: [ANN] Ruby/.NET bridge R3

Hi everyone,

I'd like to announce Release 3 of our Ruby/.NET bridge, which lets you 
use Ruby and .NET objects together in your programs.  (Releases 1 and 2 
were available on the RAA and RubyForge, but this is the first one 
we're announcing widely.)

I'd also like to introduce myself, since this is my first time posting 
to ruby-talk.  My name is Ben Schroeder, and I've used Ruby on side 
projects for a while now.  I enjoy working with dynamic languages like 
Ruby and Smalltalk - the exploratory feel is great.

We work a lot with .NET where I work, and a couple of us (myself and 
John Pierce) were interested in being able to write Ruby scripts and 
programs using the .NET APIs, and in particular the windowing and 
database objects available there.  We have been working on a bridge 
between the two, and although there are still many things to improve, 
we have already been able to write a number of scripts and utilities 
with it.  One of the things that I particularly enjoy is being able to 
interactively explore how the .NET objects work.

Here is an example of the kind of code you can write with our bridge:

	require 'dotnet'

	list = ArrayList.new
	list.add 'Hello'
	list.add 'World'

	puts list.count # -> prints <<2>>

	reversed = list.collect do |each|
	        each.reverse
	end

	puts reversed.inspect # -> prints <<["olleH", "dlroW"]>>

You can also handle .NET events and (in the latest release) implement 
.NET interfaces.

We have more examples and information on our web site at

	http://www.saltypickle.com/RubyDotNet

and you can download the latest bridge from

	http://www.saltypickle.com/RubyDotNet/Downloads

Release 3 brings a number of improvements, such as compatibility with 
Ruby 1.8, the ability to implement .NET interfaces in Ruby, and a way 
to access the bridge that makes .NET classes look like top-level Ruby 
ones.  (The top-level feature is only available in 1.8 - it uses the 
new :const_missing method.)

There are of course some similar projects out there.  We have learned a 
lot from discussing things on the rubydotnet-developer list at

	http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?forum_id=34312

In particular, the :const_missing idea is based on one of Thomas 
Sondergaard's, and a new way to access Ruby objects from .NET code is 
based on something Tim Sutherland's bridge did.

John and I would love to hear any feedback or questions you have - 
either on this list or by private mail.  I hope you enjoy using the 
bridge!

Regards,
Ben Schroeder