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diff --git a/ruby-ecosystem.html.markdown b/ruby-ecosystem.html.markdown new file mode 100644 index 00000000..5647e518 --- /dev/null +++ b/ruby-ecosystem.html.markdown @@ -0,0 +1,138 @@ +--- +category: tool +tool: ruby ecosystem +contributors: + - ["Jon Smock", "http://github.com/jonsmock"] +filename: + +--- + +People using ruby generally have a way to install different ruby versions, +manage their packages (or gems), and manage their gem dependencies. + +## Ruby Managers + +Some platforms have ruby pre-installed or available as a package. Most rubyists +do not use these, or if they do, they only use them to bootstrap another ruby +installer or implementation. Instead rubyists tend to install a ruby manager to +install and switch between many versions of ruby and their projects' ruby +environments. + +The following are the popular ruby/environment managers: + +* [RVM](https://rvm.io/) - Installs and switches between rubies. RVM also has + the concept of gemsets to isolate projects' environments completely. +* [ruby-build](https://github.com/sstephenson/ruby-build) - Only installs + rubies. Use this for finer control over your rubies' installations. +* [rbenv](https://github.com/sstephenson/rbenv) - Only switches between rubies. + Used with ruby-build. Use this for finer control over how rubies load. +* [chruby](https://github.com/postmodern/chruby) - Only switches between rubies. + Similar in spirit to rbenv. Unopinionated about how rubies are installed. + +## Ruby Versions + +Ruby was created by Yukihiro "Matz" Matsumoto, who remains somewhat of a +[BDFL](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benevolent_Dictator_for_Life), although +that is changing recently. As a result, the reference implementation of ruby is +called MRI (Matz' Reference Implementation), and when you hear a ruby version, +it is referring to the release version of MRI. + +The three major version of ruby in use are: + +* 2.0.0 - Released in February 2013. Most major libraries and frameworks support + 2.0.0. +* 1.9.3 - Released in October 2011. This is the version most rubyists use + currently. +* 1.8.7 - Ruby 1.8.7 has been + [retired](http://www.ruby-lang.org/en/news/2013/06/30/we-retire-1-8-7/). + +The change between 1.8.7 to 1.9.x is a much larger change than 1.9.3 to 2.0.0. +For instance, the 1.9 series introduced encodings and a bytecode VM. There +are projects still on 1.8.7, but they are becoming a small minority, as most of +the community has moved to at least 1.9.2 or 1.9.3. + +## Ruby Implementations + +The ruby ecosystem enjoys many different implementations of ruby, each with +unique strengths and states of compatability. To be clear, the different +implementations are written in different languages, but *they are all ruby*. +Each implementation has special hooks and extra features, but they all run +normal ruby files well. For instance, JRuby is written in Java, but you do +not need to know Java to use it. + +Very mature/compatible: + +* MRI - Written in C, this is the reference implementation of ruby. By + definition it is 100% compatible (with itself). All other rubies +maintain capatability with MRI (see RubySpec below). +* JRuby - Written in Java and ruby, this robust implementation is quite fast. + Most importantly, JRuby's strength is JVM/Java interop, leveraging existing +JVM tools, projects, and languages. +* Rubinius - Written primarily in ruby itself with a C++ bytecode VM. Also + mature and fast. Because it is implemented in ruby itself, it exposes many VM +features into rubyland. + +Medium mature/compatible: + +* Maglev - Built on top of Gemstone, a Smalltalk VM. Smalltalk has some + impressive tooling, and this project tries to bring that into ruby +development. +* RubyMotion - Brings ruby to iOS development. + +Less mature/compatible: + +* Topaz - Written in RPython (using the PyPy toolchain), Topaz is fairly young + and not yet compatable. It shows promise to be a high-performance ruby +implementation. +* IronRuby - Written in C# targeting the .NET platform, work on IronRuby seems + to have stopped since Microsoft pulled their support. + +Ruby implementations may have their own release version numbers, but they always +target a specific version of MRI for compatability. Many implementations have +the ability to enter different modes (for example, 1.8 or 1.9 mode) to specify +which MRI version to target. + +## RubySpec + +Most ruby implementations rely heavily on (RubySpec)[http://rubyspec.org/]. Ruby +has no official specification, so the community has written executable specs in +ruby to test their implementations' compatability with MRI. + +## RubyGems + +(RubyGems)[http://rubygems.org/] is a community-run package manager for ruby. +RubyGems ships with ruby, so there is no need to download it separately. + +Ruby packages are called "gems," and they can be hosted by the community at +RubyGems.org. Each gem contains its source code and some metadata, including +things like version, dependencies, author(s), and license(s). + +## Bundler + +(Bundler)[http://bundler.io/] is a gem dependency resolver. It uses a project's +Gemfile to find dependencies, and then fetches those dependencies' dependencies +recursively. It does this until all dependencies are resolved and downloaded, or +it will stop if a conflict has been found. + +Bundler will raise an error if it finds conflicting dependencies. For example, +if gem A requires version 3 or greater of gem Z, but gem B requires version 2, +Bundler will notify you of the conflict. This becomes extremely helpful as many +gems refer to other gems (which refer to other gems), which can form a large +dependency graph to resolve. + +# Testing + +Testing is a large of ruby culture. Ruby comes with its own Unit-style testing +framework called minitest (Or TestUnit for ruby version 1.8.x). There are many +testing libraries with different goals. + +* TestUnit - Ruby 1.8's built-in "Unit-style" testing framework +* minitest - Ruby 1.9/2.0's built-in testing framework +* RSpec - A testing framework that focuses on expressivity +* Cucumber - A BDD testing framework that parses Gherkin formatted tests + +## Be Nice + +The ruby community takes pride in being an open, diverse, welcoming community. +Matz himself is extremely friendly, and the generosity of rubyists on the whole +is amazing. |