Hi All,

I'm new here, and I hope I don't offend anyone by mentioning a 
different programming language here on Ruby-Talk.

I have two questions that are borne of the fact that I have been 
searching for a language that provides both rapid development 
(via an interperter) and performance (via compilation to either 
byte- or native code).

I understand that Ruby is being developed towards the realization 
of a VM for byte-code execution.  My question is, will the 
interpreter function of Ruby remain?  Will I be able to have the 
best of both worlds -- rapid development _and_ performance?

I looked at the comparison of various computer programming 
languages at The Great Computer Language Shootout 
[http://www.bagley.org/~doug/shootout/] and was a bit 
disappointed to see Ruby rated as low as it was in performance.  
This is the only reason I have not yet adopted Ruby.

I did notice OCaml (Objective Caml) at the top of the list -- 
right up there with C.  And, in my investigation, I discovered 
the OCaml can be run as a script interpreter _and_ that it can 
also compile byte-code and native code!  Wow -- just what I've 
been looking for.  But for some strange reason, I am still drawn 
to Ruby.

Could someone please offer a comparison between OCaml and Ruby?

Thank you all for your time.

Best,
Terry