Question: What Is "Ruby": Core and Interface

ruby-talk
1

Hi,

I have the following question.

We know that in some sense, there are two aspects of “Ruby”: the core
(which is what is written in C, including the object model, the garbage
collection mechanism, and all the supporting C functions) and the
interface (which is what is usually presented as “Ruby”, including the
syntax, the parser, and the interpreter). Probably there is some
dependency between the two, but let’s not deal with those details for now.

I don’t really understand about the nature of open source/free software,
so please bear with me if I am totally wrong. We know that there is
already a project to change the core of Ruby to be written in Java, which
is JRuby. I never use it, but I assume that its interface (syntax) will
be similar to “Ruby”, with probably some minor differences.

Now, what if someone retains the C core of “Ruby”, but modifies the
interface (syntax) by modifying the parser and interpreter, and, say,
calls it PRuby or SRuby? I ask the Ruby experts and the people with Ruby
authority, is it even ethical to do so?

Please regard this as a pure question, and not that something that will be
done. (At least not by me, as I don’t have the capability to do so, as I
never took classes in computer science, except probably one in
introductory C++ programming.)

Regards,

Bill

2

Hi –

···

On Wed, 11 Sep 2002, William Djaja Tjokroaminata wrote:

Now, what if someone retains the C core of “Ruby”, but modifies the
interface (syntax) by modifying the parser and interpreter, and, say,
calls it PRuby or SRuby? I ask the Ruby experts and the people with Ruby
authority, is it even ethical to do so?

I brought up a similar question in [ruby-talk:45694] – namely, what
exactly is an “implementation” of “Ruby”. I don’t have time right now
to re-read the thread (which also dealt with other things), but I
think there are some things in there you’d find relevant to your
questions.

David

–
David Alan Black | Register for RubyConf 2002!
home: dblack@candle.superlink.net | November 1-3
work: blackdav@shu.edu | Seattle, WA, USA
Web: http://pirate.shu.edu/~blackdav | http://www.rubyconf.com

3

William Djaja Tjokroaminata wrote:

Now, what if someone retains the C core of “Ruby”, but modifies the
interface (syntax) by modifying the parser and interpreter, and, say,
calls it PRuby or SRuby? I ask the Ruby experts and the people with Ruby
authority, is it even ethical to do so?

In one way, these changes are done all the time, when people are
experimenting with new features for Ruby.
The Python people have had a modified version called StacklessPython
developed in paralell with Python for a long time.

There is very rarely a reason for anyone to go though the trouble of
maintaining a forked version. It’s much easier to just build something
on top of the standard Ruby.

/Anders

···

–

A n d e r s B e n g t s s o n | ndrsbngtssn@yahoo.se
Stockholm, Sweden |

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