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JRuby Roundup: JRuby 1.3 Released, ruby2java, JSR 292 Progress
JRuby 1.3 is now available, bringing performance improvements and compatibility with Google AppEngine. Work on other improvements is continuing and a first version of the ruby2java compiler is now available. Also: InvokeDynamic support is making it's way into the builds for the next Java version.
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Squeak Smalltalk and Seaside come to the iPhone
Squeak Smalltalk is the latest language to be supported on the iPhone platform. We talked to John M McIntosh who ported Squeak to the iPhone and also released software built with Squeak (and its cleaned up version Pharo) in the AppStore. The applications make use of Squeak, but also use the Seaside web framework for building GUIs.
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Engine Yard Has Taken Over Ruby 1.8.6 Maintenance
Engine Yard has taken over the maintenance of Ruby 1.8.6. We talked to its new maintainer Kirk Haines to find out what they have planned for the future.
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Rich Hickey on Clojure's Features and Implementation
In this interview from QCon London 2009, Rich Hickey talks about Clojure. The discussion includes the ideas behind Clojure's STM support, what other concurrency primitives Clojure supports and which ones might get added in the future. Other topics covered are Clojure's AOT support, the role and implementation of multimethods, Clojure ports to other systems and much more.
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Performance Roundup: Heap Stacks Boost Threads in 1.8.x, MacRuby AOT, ZenProfile and EventHooks
New patches by Joe Damato improve the efficiency of Ruby 1.8.x's green threads with heap stacks: instead of copying the entire stack at every context switch, the patches actually switch between different stacks. Ryan Davis released zenprofile and event_hook for efficient profiling. Also: work on a MacRuby Ahead of Time compiler using LLVM has started.
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Ruby VM Roundup: Nokogiri and Nailgun on JRuby, Ruby 1.9.1p129, MagLev Update
JRuby 1.3 will allow to reduce startup times in some situations using Nailgun. Nokogiri, a popular XML library, now runs on the latest JRuby thanks to ruby-ffi. Finally: Ruby 1.9.1-p129 is a new release that fixes a few bugs and security issues.
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CrossTwine Linker Aims to Boost MRI and 1.9.1 Performance
CrossTwine aims to improve the performance of MRI, 1.9.1, and Python. Unlike new Ruby VMs, the CrossTwine Linker allows to improve efficiency of the existing interpreters and VMs, while keeping their complete feature set. The company plans to offer services to use the CrossTwine Linker technology to speed up specific applications.
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Implementation Roundup: Ruby 1.8.x update, JRuby on .NET, MacRuby and MagLev Progress
New versions of Ruby 1.8.6 and 1.8.7 are available now. JRuby development moves ahead with experiments with running JRuby on IKVM. Also: MacRuby continues performance work and MagLev now runs RubyGems.
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The Future of ParseTree
The current Ruby 1.9.1 doesn't have the required features to allow ParseTree's runtime features to work - which means some libraries that depend on those features won't work. Examples are Merb's action arguments or heckle. We take a look at the state of ParseTree - and how ruby_parser is a possible way out.
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Ruby Performance Roundup: GC Tuning, MagLev, MacRuby
Ruby's performance is being improved on all fronts. The GC gets help from REE's work on the COW GC and some tunings tips help to fine tune it. MacRuby's VM keeps on improving and tail call optimization was recently added. Also: news of a MagLev Beta in Q2.
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MacRuby 0.5 Will Have Faster VM Based on LLVM,
The first results of performance work on the next version of MacRuby are now available in an experimental branch. A new VM based on LLVM is used and already shows significant speed improvements over earlier MacRuby versions.
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Rhodes 1.0 Coming up, RhoHub beta
The Rhodes framework brings Ruby to many smartphone platforms, Symbian, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, iPhone and with the upcoming 1.0 release Android. We talked to Adam Blum of Rhomobile about what's coming in the 1.0 release, real world applications using Rhodes and the new RhoHub service.
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MacRuby 0.4 Released with HotCocoa::Graphics, Threaded GC, DTrace
The MacOS X based Ruby implementation MacRuby is now available in the 0.4 release, which adds an embedding API for using Ruby to script Objective-C apps, a new threaded GC, 64 bit support, and a graphics library along the lines of Processing called HotCocoa::Graphics built on Core Graphics and Core Image.
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Visual Basic 6.0 to be Supported on Windows 7
Contrary to widely circulated rumors, Visual Basic 6.0 will ship and will be supported on Windows 7 for the lifetime of the OS. However there are no plans to extend VB6 runtime support beyond Windows 7.
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Presentation: Ruby VMs: A Comparison
In this presentation from QCon San Francisco 2008, Jason Seifer takes a look at the different Ruby virtual machines (JRuby, MagLev, IronRuby, Rubinius, MacRuby) and how to choose what fits best within the enterprise.