# Using Ruby as a scripting language within a C app **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [September 22, 2008, 6:03am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/using-ruby-as-a-scripting-language-within-a-c-app/149166 "2008-09-22T06:03:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![forgottenwizard](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/f/41988e/32.png) [@forgottenwizard](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/forgottenwizard)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 6:03am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/using-ruby-as-a-scripting-language-within-a-c-app/149166/1 "2008-09-22T06:03:34Z")
I’m working on building a MUD, and I would like to be able to use Ruby as the scripting language within the MUD (such as with mobiles, rooms, objects, ect). I would like someone to give me an idea on how to do this, as well as an idea on how much effort and time this will require. ---
**Author:** ![forgottenwizard](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/f/41988e/32.png) [@forgottenwizard](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/forgottenwizard)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 9:49am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/using-ruby-as-a-scripting-language-within-a-c-app/149166/2 "2008-09-22T09:49:19Z")
forgottenwizard wrote: > I’m working on building a MUD, and I would like to be able to use Ruby > as the scripting language within the MUD (such as with mobiles, rooms, > objects, ect). > > I would like someone to give me an idea on how to do this, as well as an > idea on how much effort and time this will require. [http://poignantguide.net/ruby/chapter-6.html](http://poignantguide.net/ruby/chapter-6.html) Scroll down to “A Sponsored Dragon-Slaying” and enjoy. ---
**Author:** ![forgottenwizard](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/f/41988e/32.png) [@forgottenwizard](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/forgottenwizard)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 10:55am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/using-ruby-as-a-scripting-language-within-a-c-app/149166/3 "2008-09-22T10:55:02Z")
forgottenwizard wrote: > I’m working on building a MUD, and I would like to be able to use Ruby > as the scripting language within the MUD (such as with mobiles, rooms, > objects, ect). If you are using C/C++ (or indeed C#) in .NET you can embed Ruby programs using our free Ruby Connector: [http://www.sapphiresteel.com/SapphireSteel-Downloads](http://www.sapphiresteel.com/SapphireSteel-Downloads) For some ideas on writing adventure type games in Ruby, you may find my Ruby adventure game tutorial of use: [http://www.bitwisemag.com/2/Adventures-In-Ruby](http://www.bitwisemag.com/2/Adventures-In-Ruby) [http://www.bitwisemag.com/2/Adventures-In-Ruby-Part-2](http://www.bitwisemag.com/2/Adventures-In-Ruby-Part-2) [http://www.bitwisemag.com/2/Adventures-In-Ruby-Part-3](http://www.bitwisemag.com/2/Adventures-In-Ruby-Part-3) best wishes Huw C. SapphireSteel Software Ruby and Rails In Visual Studio [http://www.sapphiresteel.com](http://www.sapphiresteel.com) ---
**Author:** ![forgottenwizard](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/f/41988e/32.png) [@forgottenwizard](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/forgottenwizard)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 11:07pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/using-ruby-as-a-scripting-language-within-a-c-app/149166/4 "2008-09-22T23:07:09Z")
Ken B. wrote: > On Mon, 22 Sep 2008 02:41:12 -0500, Brian C. wrote: > > > Scroll down to “A Sponsored Dragon-Slaying” and enjoy. > > Aside from being entertaining, what does this have to do with embedding > > Ruby in a C-based MUD engine? OK, I missed the smiley, tag etc. For a more useful link, see [http://www.ruby-doc.org/docs/ProgrammingRuby/html/ext\_ruby.html](http://www.ruby-doc.org/docs/ProgrammingRuby/html/ext_ruby.html) The section “Embedding a Ruby Interpreter” is brief, but much of the preceding stuff about VALUE and so on is relevant. There’s enough to get started with experimenting anyway. In any case, a simple Google for “embedded ruby” turns up a bunch of useful stuff. The first hit is [ruby embedded into c++](http://metaeditor.sourceforge.net/embed/) None of that is specific to the problem domain of MUDs (apart from \_why’s page), but once you have an embedded ruby interpreter, what you do with it is up to you. I’d question why you’d want to write any of the rest of it in C, but that’s a different issue 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![forgottenwizard](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/f/41988e/32.png) [@forgottenwizard](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/forgottenwizard)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2008, 10:40pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/using-ruby-as-a-scripting-language-within-a-c-app/149166/5 "2008-09-22T22:40:54Z")
On Mon, 22 Sep 2008 02:41:12 -0500, Brian C. wrote: > Scroll down to “A Sponsored Dragon-Slaying” and enjoy. > Aside from being entertaining, what does this have to do with embedding > Ruby in a C-based MUD engine? –Ken ---
**Author:** ![forgottenwizard](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/f/41988e/32.png) [@forgottenwizard](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/forgottenwizard)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 10:03pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/using-ruby-as-a-scripting-language-within-a-c-app/149166/6 "2008-09-23T22:03:46Z")
> I’d question why you’d want to write any of the rest of it in C, but > that’s a different issue 🙂 I am not the original author, but personally I always enjoy it when people do not ask why I want to do something that way, but rather help how i do it. In my experience way too often people who tried to ask for the why also tried to persuade me that the way is wrong. Which may be fine but it wastes my time as well in like 95% of the cases I personally experienced and does not really help me as well. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![forgottenwizard](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/f/41988e/32.png) [@forgottenwizard](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/forgottenwizard)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 8:15am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/using-ruby-as-a-scripting-language-within-a-c-app/149166/7 "2008-09-23T08:15:40Z")
On 05:58 Tue 23 Sep, Brian C. wrote: > [Programming Ruby: The Pragmatic Programmer's Guide](http://www.ruby-doc.org/docs/ProgrammingRuby/html/ext_ruby.html) > do with it is up to you. > > ## I’d question why you’d want to write any of the rest of it in C, but that’s a different issue 🙂 > > Posted via [http://www.ruby-forum.com/](http://www.ruby-forum.com/). I’m starting off of an existing codebase, and trying to rewrite it into Ruby seems like a waste. ---
**Author:** ![forgottenwizard](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/f/41988e/32.png) [@forgottenwizard](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/forgottenwizard)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2008, 5:02am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/using-ruby-as-a-scripting-language-within-a-c-app/149166/8 "2008-09-24T05:02:50Z")
On Tuesday 23 September 2008 15:03:42 Marc H. wrote: > > I’d question why you’d want to write any of the rest of it in C, but > > that’s a different issue 🙂 > > I am not the original author, but personally I always enjoy it when > people do not ask why I want to do something that way, but rather help > how i do it. There are advantages to both. Consider the hypothetical question: “How can I delete every file on my hard drive with a single command?” If there’s an easy way to do what I want to do, I’d like to know it. “rm -rf /” However, in the same message, it might be helpful to suggest other ways of thinking about the problem: “Well, if you really want the data gone (to hide it), best ‘dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda’. And if you only need to nuke a particular directory, you can ‘rm -rf /foo’ – but you may want to look up ‘shred’ first.” I might learn something. It might even save me weeks of work – might stop me from nuking my whole hard drive, in the above (contrived) example. If not, it doesn’t waste very much time to read them and ignore them. So, I think Brian’s post was actually helpful in that he’s pointed out a few useful resources for embedding a Ruby interpreter, and also suggested that it might be better to write it in Ruby. (I’d second that – a MUD doesn’t have to be fast, but it’s better if it’s flexible, and it really shouldn’t take long.)