M. Edward (Ed) Borasky wrote:
> Charles Oliver Nutter wrote:
> 
> [snip]
> 
>> JRuby 1.0.1 is the current release. 1.0.2 is going to be released 
>> within the next two weeks, along with a beta of 1.1.
>>
>> What more would folks like to know about?
> 
> 
> 1. When do you figure the "release" of 1.1 will be?

We're targeting Decemberish, probably around JavaPolis (EU java 
conference) timeframe. One big milestone for a Ruby conference, the next 
for a Java conference.

> 2. What's the "API" for mixed Java and Ruby programming on the Java 
> platform?

Generally, it's pretty trivial.

require 'java' # or "include Java" via an autoload we support
SomeClass = com.foo.bar.SomeClass
sc = SomeClass.new

And we add lots of nice features for certain standard Java types and 
interfaces, like making collections Enumerable and so on.

http://www.headius.com/jrubywiki/index.php/Calling_Java_from_JRuby
http://blogs.sun.com/coolstuff/entry/using_java_classes_in_jruby

> 3. Do you *have* to write jRuby extensions in Java, or can you write 
> them in bytecode? In C?

Extensions...well, generally, you have to write extensions in any 
language that compiles to Java bytecode. You could write them in Scala, 
Python (Jython), or Groovy if you really wanted to. It's all just bytecode.

We do not support C-based extensions or libraries. However, we are 
shipping the Java Native Access library (JNA) in JRuby 1.1, which 
provides programmatic access to any C library from Java code (it's 
similar to what DL provides for Ruby). That should make it a lot easier 
to wire in C-based libraries to JRuby.

It's fair to say that the limitations of the JVM and the Java platform 
apply to JRuby, like some difficulty calling native libraries and the 
ever-present startup time issue. But the benefits also apply, in the way 
of performance, excellent GC, concurrent multithreading, and a massive 
collection of libraries.

- Charlie