On 5/4/05, Eric Hodel <drbrain / segment7.net> wrote:
> > On 5/3/05, Ryan Davis <ryand-ruby / zenspider.com> wrote:
> >> Isn't it cool that we have these discussions out on a public list like
> >> ruby-talk??? It is almost like, oh I dunno, we want people to look at
> >> the software! ;)
> >
> > Not being a c programmer, I've been watching this thread (and some
> > others) mostly out of curiousity.  But I'm beginning to get the
> > impression that the two of you are on the verge of having a full Ruby
> > to C converter.  Is that an overestimate?
> 
> I think that is on-target.
> 
> > If a full conversion is likely, any idea on a time line?  What would
> > be the likely limitations?
> 
> For Ruby2RubyC, you trade safety for speed (but I may be able to do
> something about that), and you are limited in what is translatable.
> Code in a class or module, or at the top level can't be translated.
> 
> The translator isn't fully done yet, I don't know if things like
> constant lookup actually works, and I didn't do anything to make global
> variables work.  Those things can be fixed.
> 
> It may do different things with scoping of variables too.
> 
> > Write it in Ruby, convert it to c, compile it, distribute it.  That
> > really would be something.  Especially for the non c programmers like
> > myself :)
> 
> For a Ruby subset, yes, you can do that.  Just for a larger subset than
> Ruby2C.

Eric, you and Ryan have impressed me before, but this takes the cake.

I'll keep watching, and I hope others can do more than just watch.  I
expect that subset will be growing, and I look forward to it.

I've used Erik Veenstra's RubyScript2Exe a couple times to share toys
with non-ruby coders, and I think it's a great tool, but this would be
much more impressive (losing size/speed issues).

Keep up the great work.  I imagine many others feel the same way. 
Consider this an 'advocacy bump' ;-)

-- 
Bill Guindon (aka aGorilla)