# MacRuby 0.2 **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [June 7, 2008, 2:48am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/macruby-0-2/139795 "2008-06-07T02:48:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Laurent\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/65b543/32.png) [@Laurent\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Laurent_S)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2008, 2:48am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/macruby-0-2/139795/1 "2008-06-07T02:48:56Z")
Hi, After 3 months of development, here comes the second release of MacRuby, 0.2! Check it out while it’s still hot! MacRuby is a version of Ruby 1.9, ported to run directly on top of Mac OS X core technologies such as the Objective-C common runtime and garbage collector, and the CoreFoundation framework. While still a work in progress, it is the goal of MacRuby to enable the creation of full-fledged Mac OS X applications which do not sacrifice performance in order to enjoy the benefits of using Ruby. You can learn more about MacRuby, and download a binary installer, from the website: [http://ruby.macosforge.org](http://ruby.macosforge.org) This is an important release, addressing many bugs, but also re-implementing parts of the runtime using the CoreFoundation framework. In MacRuby 0.2, all strings, arrays and hashes are now native Cocoa types, respectively NSString, NSArray and NSDictionary objects. The entire String, Array and Hash interface was rewritten on top of the Cocoa equivalents, using the powerful CoreFoundation framework. The previous implementation, inherited from MRI, is not used anymore. The rationale behind this change is simple. It is not necessary anymore to convert Ruby primitive types to Cocoa, or vice-versa. For example, a String created in MacRuby can be passed as is, without conversion, to an underlying C or Objective-C API that expects an NSString. And vice-versa, any method of the Ruby String class can be performed on an NSString that comes from Objective-C. Enjoy, Laurent ---
**Author:** ![Laurent\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/65b543/32.png) [@Laurent\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Laurent_S)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2008, 3:05am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/macruby-0-2/139795/2 "2008-06-07T03:05:54Z")
Laurent S. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > After 3 months of development, here comes the second release of > MacRuby, 0.2! Check it out while it’s still hot! Aparently the “MacRuby 0.2.pkg” needs Leopard, i’m running 10.4.11. installing it thru svn + compil could work on a PPC G5 ??? ---
**Author:** ![Laurent\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/65b543/32.png) [@Laurent\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Laurent_S)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2008, 3:15am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/macruby-0-2/139795/3 "2008-06-07T03:15:16Z")
On Fri, Jun 6, 2008 at 6:03 PM, Une Bévue [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Laurent S. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > > After 3 months of development, here comes the second release of > > MacRuby, 0.2! Check it out while it’s still hot! > > Aparently the “MacRuby 0.2.pkg” needs Leopard, i’m running 10.4.11. > > installing it thru svn + compil could work on a PPC G5 ??? No it won’t, MacRuby will only run on Mac OS X 10.5, or later. Tiger is not supported. Laurent ---
**Author:** ![Laurent\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/65b543/32.png) [@Laurent\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Laurent_S)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2008, 6:22pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/macruby-0-2/139795/4 "2008-06-08T18:22:19Z")
On Jun 8, 2008, at 9:10 AM, Gregory S. wrote: > > work in progress, it is the goal of MacRuby to enable the creation of > > may be > > providing a language interpreter may appear to run against that > > the iPhone, please do; I’m working on an iPhone app now and Ruby > > would have > > been a nice way to go about it. > > > Enjoy, > > Laurent > > –Greg Greg, GC is not that big of a deal. The reference counting mechanism of Objective-C is super easy. If you follow the rules, you’ll be fine. In most cases, if you use an init method to instantiate, go down to your dealloc method and use a release. If your app crashes and the debugger gives you nothing but register numbers, you need a retain on an object somewhere, to keep it around long enough to do something with it. It’s not tough at all. google for Uli Kusterer’s site and you’ll find his invaluable advice on retain/release. It’s pretty darn easy. ---
**Author:** ![Laurent\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/65b543/32.png) [@Laurent\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Laurent_S)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2008, 4:12pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/macruby-0-2/139795/5 "2008-06-08T16:12:00Z")
On Sat, Jun 07, 2008 at 09:47:12AM +0900, Laurent S. wrote: > in order to enjoy the benefits of using Ruby. > […] I realize this is a long shot, but I was wondering if there was any chance that MacRuby could become available on the iPhone. I see two possible technical difficulties and one possible political difficulty: - Since ObjC on iPhone does not support garbage collection, there may be additional work to make the Ruby GC manage things with release/retain. - Since the iPhone is battery-based, performance matters in terms of wattage, and a Ruby interpreter may be too inefficient for mobile use. - Politically, since Apple expressly does not want interpreted code downloaded from elsewhere and run on the device (e.g. Flash, Java, or really anything other than JavaScript running in a web component), providing a language interpreter may appear to run against that interest. I’m sure you, as an Apple employee, can’t comment on the political issue or the likelihood of MacRuby becoming available in the iPhone SDK (i.e. future products). If you could comment on the two technical issues, though, I’d appreciate it. Also, if you weren’t thinking in terms of getting MacRuby on the iPhone, please do; I’m working on an iPhone app now and Ruby would have been a nice way to go about it. > Enjoy, > Laurent > –Greg ---
**Author:** ![Laurent\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/65b543/32.png) [@Laurent\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Laurent_S)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2008, 3:07am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/macruby-0-2/139795/6 "2008-06-09T03:07:28Z")
On Mon, Jun 09, 2008 at 01:20:27AM +0900, John J. wrote: > > > OS X core technologies such as the Objective-C common runtime and > > > > - Since ObjC on iPhone does not support garbage collection, there may be > > Greg, GC is not that big of a deal. The reference counting mechanism of > Objective-C is super easy. If you follow the rules, you’ll be fine. In > most cases, if you use an init method to instantiate, go down to your > dealloc method and use a release. If your app crashes and the debugger > gives you nothing but register numbers, you need a retain on an object > somewhere, to keep it around long enough to do something with it. > > It’s not tough at all. google for Uli Kusterer’s site and you’ll find his > invaluable advice on retain/release. It’s pretty darn easy. Ah, I think you misunderstood what I was talking about. ObjC on Leopard does GC rather than retain/release. I haven’t looked at the implementation of MacRuby (I know, I should), but if I were writing it I would simply use the ObjC runtime’s GC for Ruby’s GC. It’s worth noting that MacRuby only runs on Leopard, no earlier version, and that could be part of the reason. As for dealing with retain/release in ObjC on the iPhone, I’m not having any trouble. The main reasons I’d like to use Ruby on the iPhone have nothing to do with GC. It’s how easy Ruby makes DB access (we’re using SQLite, which isn’t bad but it’s easier in Ruby), collection iteration (I miss map and inject), and regular expressions (ObjC wrappers for pcre or POSIX regexes don’t cut it). –Greg ---
**Author:** ![Laurent\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/65b543/32.png) [@Laurent\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Laurent_S)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2008, 3:58am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/macruby-0-2/139795/7 "2008-06-09T03:58:27Z")
On Jun 8, 2008, at 8:05 PM, Gregory S. wrote: > > > > MacRuby is a version of Ruby 1.9, ported to run directly on top > > > > I realize this is a long shot, but I was wondering if there was any > > > > wattage, and a Ruby interpreter may be too inefficient for > > > > issue or the likelihood of MacRuby becoming available in the > > the ObjC runtime’s GC for Ruby’s GC. It’s worth noting that MacRuby > miss map and inject), and regular expressions (ObjC wrappers for > pcre or > POSIX regexes don’t cut it). > > –Greg Well, we’ll see soon enough. The NDA period on the iPhone SDK will probably come to a close soon. The wwdc is this week, so we’re bound to hear more, and there will probably be an update to the SDK too. As for GC on the phone, there’s no reason it couldn’t do it. It does run OS X… MacRuby is going to be where it’s at eventually. It is tied to the Leopard frameworks, and it is exactly why you won’t likely see it backported. Also, OS X development should be on a faster cycle now, but in what areas, that remains to be seen. I would anticipate something of an eventual convergence of most of the technologies between the iPhone and the full blown computers. Luckily, the frameworks are pretty consistent about implementations other than the audio and graphics frameworks… MacRuby holds great promise. Other than its somewhat awkward looking method signatures (to make it fit Obj-C methods) the ability to use Ruby iteration is going to be wonderful and to be able to do it with very little performance hit…