JRuby 0.9.9 Released: Yes, it’s a Big Deal
Just an hour ago, Thomas Enebo announced the release of JRuby 0.9.9, a stabilization release in anticipation of JRuby 1.0. You can download it directly from the JRuby file directory.
Hundreds of issues have been resolved including 180 Jira issues and problems with YAML, marshalling and Java integration. Some major performance overhauls of core classes have also occurred. The result is an increase in performance of 40% compared to JRuby 0.9.8. More Ruby (and Rails) software now works on JRuby than ever before, including, finally, the Mephisto blogging system.
JRuby is rapidly becoming a big deal where Ruby is concerned. It could help Ruby succeed in the enterprise where the core implementation has failed. For example, it's already possible to deploy archived Rails applications to the Java-based TomCat application server without too much trouble. Given the locked down nature of many enterprises' hosting environments, JRuby could open up significant new markets for Ruby developers so start playing with it now while it's almost still under the radar.
April 24, 2007 at 12:59 am
I think that JRuby, today, is probably the most important project of the Ruby world. It not only closes the gap between the most exciting web framework of our current generation and the most important virtual machine ever made, but it also closes the gap between two great and competitive communities. To me, having the Java developers mixed with Ruby enthusiasts is a very big accomplishment. Congratulations to everybody at the JRuby Core Team.
April 24, 2007 at 5:44 pm
Hey, that's good news. Thanks for the news. Apart from the plus points you mention, one other potentially big one could be the ability for Ruby code to leverage the very large number of different Java libraries/APIs that exist for almost every conceivable area under the sun (pun intended:-). E.g. XML libraries, JDBC (there are *lots* of JDBC drivers for different databases), etc.
Vasudev Ram
http://www.dancingbison.com