# Re: converting some autogenerated ruby code to C **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [July 27, 2006, 11:50pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-converting-some-autogenerated-ruby-code-to-c/100244 "2006-07-27T23:50:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BergerS\_Daniel](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@BergerS\_Daniel](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/BergerS_Daniel)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2006, 11:50pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-converting-some-autogenerated-ruby-code-to-c/100244/1 "2006-07-27T23:50:15Z")
> few methods with giant expressions in each. I would like to > try improving the performance by generating and compiling C > code instead. My preference would be to convert my small > subset of ruby code to C code (easily have an option to use > pure ruby or use ruby/C), but I could also autogenerate C > code instead. Anybody have any opinions/ideas about what > approach I whould take? Couldn’t you start with Ruby, see how it performs, and add C support later? Or does it become more difficult later? Just remember, not everyone has a C compiler on their system… Regards, Dan This communication is the property of Qwest and may contain confidential or privileged information. Unauthorized use of this communication is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. If you have received this communication in error, please immediately notify the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the communication and any attachments. ---
**Author:** ![BergerS\_Daniel](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@BergerS\_Daniel](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/BergerS_Daniel)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2006, 5:12pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-converting-some-autogenerated-ruby-code-to-c/100244/2 "2006-07-28T17:12:53Z")
On 7/27/06, Berger, Daniel [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Couldn’t you start with Ruby, see how it performs, and add C support > later? Or does it become more difficult later? I’ve already have a pure ruby solution. There are a couple reasons I would like to have an alternate C solution: - I’m not using regular expressions at the lowest level. The solution I have has a superset of the functionality of regular expressions (full parsing, works on more than just strings). I would rather not move to use regular expressions just for the sake of performance. I may still do it at some point, but it will add ugliness since I have to buffer into a string. Instead, I would rather just get the same advantage that regular expressions have - they are written in C. I’m not sure if I would be able to quite get to the regex performance or not. On one hand, I’m doing code generation/compiling and Regexp is just putting the regex into a more manageable structure. On the other hand, my solution is duck-typed and not tied to String, so I’ll have messaging overhead for each additional char/token/element read (input.read1next) and checked (pattern.===). - I would like to get this parsing on par with parsers from other languages - YACC, ANTLR, etc. I would like to get some bragging rights relative to these. Of course, when you add ruby actions (blocks) in the parsing this could slow things down quite a bit, since you’re back into ruby instead of C. > Just remember, not everyone has a C compiler on their system… That’s why I’ll provide a pure ruby and a ruby/C solution. Anybody want to point me to some examples/docs of ruby2c, rb2c, etc? ---
**Author:** ![BergerS\_Daniel](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@BergerS\_Daniel](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/BergerS_Daniel)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2006, 5:19pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-converting-some-autogenerated-ruby-code-to-c/100244/3 "2006-07-28T17:19:46Z")
On Sat, 29 Jul 2006, Eric M. wrote: > That’s why I’ll provide a pure ruby and a ruby/C solution. > > Anybody want to point me to some examples/docs of ruby2c, rb2c, etc? why not just use ruby-inline? it’s probably the easiest way to generate c from ruby. -a ---
**Author:** ![BergerS\_Daniel](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@BergerS\_Daniel](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/BergerS_Daniel)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2006, 6:57pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/re-converting-some-autogenerated-ruby-code-to-c/100244/4 "2006-07-28T18:57:00Z")
On 7/28/06, removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > On Sat, 29 Jul 2006, Eric M. wrote: > > > That’s why I’ll provide a pure ruby and a ruby/C solution. > > > > Anybody want to point me to some examples/docs of ruby2c, rb2c, etc? > > why not just use ruby-inline? it’s probably the easiest way to generate c > from ruby. well, Ruby2C generates C from Ruby … RubyInline lets you put some C in your Ruby.