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Compiling Ruby to machine language

(patshaughnessy.net)
287 points todsacerdoti | 3 comments | 17 Nov 25 20:04 UTC | HN request time: 0.672s | source
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jlarocco ◴[17 Nov 25 22:05 UTC] No.45958907[source]▶
IIRC MacRuby used to compile to native code on OSX using LLVM, and was supposed to support native OSX APIs and Objective-C frameworks. It always seemed like a neat idea, and a slick integration, but I guess Apple moved to Swift instead.

I'll have to pick up a copy of this "Ruby Under a Microscope" book when the new version comes out. I've always liked Ruby, I just haven't had much chance to use it.

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hk1337 ◴[18 Nov 25 00:33 UTC] No.45960079[source]▶
AFAIK, you can still use Objective-C and create apps for macOS, iOS, and iPadOS? The APIs previously used may not be available anymore.
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1. jlarocco ◴[18 Nov 25 01:53 UTC] No.45960522[source]▶
I'm sure you can still use Objective-C, but MacRuby stopped being updated around 2011, and I don't know how well it'd support newer versions of OSX.

I dropped OSX long ago, so can't even try it out any more.

I wonder how much of the LLVM bits could be reused? I'm sure LLVM's changed a bunch in the last 15 years, too.

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2. moltopoco ◴[18 Nov 25 03:39 UTC] No.45961143[source]▶
My understanding is that MacRuby relied on Apple's ill-fated attempts to migrate from reference counting to regular garbage collection. I would be surprised if GC still worked on modern arm64 macOS. RubyMotion later adopted ARC but then it's not really Ruby anymore.
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3. jlarocco ◴[18 Nov 25 14:46 UTC] No.45966852[source]▶
Gees, I forgot about their move to Arm. Almost certainly wouldn't work out of the box any more.