Does Ruby/Tk have all features as perl/Tk or java swing?

ruby-talk
1

Hi
I am perl and java programmer. I want to make a quite complex application using a lot GUI components like Spreadsheet, Menu, Tab etc..in Ruby. I have tried Ruby for some simple non-GUI applications and really like the language. It will be time consumming if I start to write software in Ruby and later find out that it lacks this and that. So someone have worked much with Ruby/Tk can answer my questions.
1. Does Ruby/Tk have all features as perl/Tk or java swing?
2. Does Ruby have features like Java Applet running in a web browser?
3. JRuby is an interpreter that I can run both java and ruby on it. But what is the benefit of that function for programmer and user?
Thanks
ngoc

2

1. Does Ruby/Tk have all features as perl/Tk or java swing?

Perl/Tk perhaps. Swing, it's been a long time since I've programmed
that. A better bet for a GUI toolkit for Ruby in my experience is
FXRuby. It has all of the features you've mentioned and then some.

2. Does Ruby have features like Java Applet running in a web browser?

AFAIK, no. That would require a Ruby plugin for whatever browser you
want to support.

3. JRuby is an interpreter that I can run both java and ruby on it. But
what is the benefit of that function for programmer and user?

Correction, JRuby is an implementation of the Ruby interpreter in
Java. The benefits of such a thing I think would be obvious: you can
access Java classes from a Ruby program, you can integrate the two
languages better.

···

On 7/13/05, ngoc <ngoc@yahoo.com> wrote:

3

Message-ID: <42d43b3a$1@news.broadpark.no>

1. Does Ruby/Tk have all features as perl/Tk or java swing?

perl/Tk uses the "ptk" library. I heard that includes standard Tk
widgets and some megawidgets from some extensions.
Ruby/Tk uses standard Tcl/Tk libraries. Then, the features of
Ruby/Tk is less than perl/Tk.
However, Ruby/Tk can use almost all of Tcl/Tk extensions.
At leaset 1.8.2 or later, Ruby/Tk has support libraries for some
Tcl/Tk extensions. If includes such supports, Ruby/Tk has more
features than perl/Tk.
And it will be also an advantage that Ruby/Tk can use the features
of the latest Tcl/Tk.
Ruby/Tk can work with the latest Tcl/Tk 8.4.11 or 8.5a3.

···

From: ngoc <ngoc@yahoo.com>
Subject: Does Ruby/Tk have all features as perl/Tk or java swing?
Date: Wed, 13 Jul 2005 06:55:50 +0900
--
Hidetoshi NAGAI (nagai@ai.kyutech.ac.jp)

4

What about wxRuby?

wx uses native widgets on all platforms, and is a good choice if you
want a cross-platform app that feels native. Personally, I don't like
the way Tk apps feel.

wx would be my first choice, if wxRuby is mature enough.

5

What advantages does Fox have over Tk?

···

On 7/12/05, Dido Sevilla <dido.sevilla@gmail.com> wrote:

On 7/13/05, ngoc <ngoc@yahoo.com> wrote:
> 1. Does Ruby/Tk have all features as perl/Tk or java swing?

Perl/Tk perhaps. Swing, it's been a long time since I've programmed
that. A better bet for a GUI toolkit for Ruby in my experience is
FXRuby. It has all of the features you've mentioned and then some.

6

So if I want to use Tk 8.5a3, I just install it and I can use it
through Ruby? Do I need to recompile Ruby if I update Tk?

···

On 7/12/05, Hidetoshi NAGAI <nagai@ai.kyutech.ac.jp> wrote:

From: ngoc <ngoc@yahoo.com>
Subject: Does Ruby/Tk have all features as perl/Tk or java swing?
Date: Wed, 13 Jul 2005 06:55:50 +0900
Message-ID: <42d43b3a$1@news.broadpark.no>
> 1. Does Ruby/Tk have all features as perl/Tk or java swing?

perl/Tk uses the "ptk" library. I heard that includes standard Tk
widgets and some megawidgets from some extensions.
Ruby/Tk uses standard Tcl/Tk libraries. Then, the features of
Ruby/Tk is less than perl/Tk.
However, Ruby/Tk can use almost all of Tcl/Tk extensions.
At leaset 1.8.2 or later, Ruby/Tk has support libraries for some
Tcl/Tk extensions. If includes such supports, Ruby/Tk has more
features than perl/Tk.
And it will be also an advantage that Ruby/Tk can use the features
of the latest Tcl/Tk.
Ruby/Tk can work with the latest Tcl/Tk 8.4.11 or 8.5a3.

7

Hello Mark,

What about wxRuby?

wx uses native widgets on all platforms, and is a good choice if you
want a cross-platform app that feels native. Personally, I don't like
the way Tk apps feel.

wx would be my first choice, if wxRuby is mature enough.

What wxRuby are you talking about ?
0.6 or the current CVS head.

I never tried the latest releases, but 0.6 is definitely not mature
enough for mission critical applications. There are some serious
problems with garbage collection.

···

--
Best regards, emailto: scholz at scriptolutions dot com
Lothar Scholz http://www.ruby-ide.com
CTO Scriptolutions Ruby, PHP, Python IDE 's

8

Well, it seems to have a more full-featured set of widgets for one. It
seems that while Ruby/Tk is simpler to program FXRuby seems to offer
more for larger projects. It's also integrated into the One-Click
installer as of the latest version, where Ruby/Tk is not. The last
pretty much decided the issue for me, as I had to write a Ruby GUI
that had to run cleanly both on GNU/Linux and Windows and be
relatively painless to deploy, especially on Windows.

···

On 7/13/05, Joe Van Dyk <joevandyk@gmail.com> wrote:

What advantages does Fox have over Tk?

9

Message-ID: <c715e64050713002677e38e65@mail.gmail.com>

So if I want to use Tk 8.5a3, I just install it and I can use it
through Ruby? Do I need to recompile Ruby if I update Tk?

If configure with --enable-tcltk-stubs, you may not need recompile.
Else, please recompile tcltklib.so only.

···

From: Joe Van Dyk <joevandyk@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: Does Ruby/Tk have all features as perl/Tk or java swing?
Date: Wed, 13 Jul 2005 16:26:57 +0900
--
Hidetoshi NAGAI (nagai@ai.kyutech.ac.jp)

10

Hello Joe,

> 1. Does Ruby/Tk have all features as perl/Tk or java swing?

Perl/Tk perhaps. Swing, it's been a long time since I've programmed
that. A better bet for a GUI toolkit for Ruby in my experience is
FXRuby. It has all of the features you've mentioned and then some.

What advantages does Fox have over Tk?

Advantage:
Faster, smaller, better (more ruby like) API.

Disadvantage:
Not all widgets exist or at comparable quality
(TkCanvas, TkText, TkTable), no I18N and L17N.

If you need a basic feature it is much easier to add it with C++ to
FOX + Ruby Binding as it is with TK. In a complex application you
always have to do this, in simpler apps you don't need to care about
it.

···

On 7/12/05, Dido Sevilla <dido.sevilla@gmail.com> wrote:

On 7/13/05, ngoc <ngoc@yahoo.com> wrote:

--
Best regards, emailto: scholz at scriptolutions dot com
Lothar Scholz http://www.ruby-ide.com
CTO Scriptolutions Ruby, PHP, Python IDE 's