[Q] What does Ruby/DL do?

[Gavin Sinclair]

The Ruby/DL website (http://google...) doesn't have much by way of
explanation. I've seen it claimed recently that it can be used _instead
of_ C library bindings, or some such. Can anyone elaborate?

Thanks,
Gavin

 

[Dick Davies]

The Ruby/DL website (http://google...) doesn't have much by way of
explanation. I've seen it claimed recently that it can be used _instead
of_ C library bindings, or some such. Can anyone elaborate?

Yeah, it's fab!

See the section named 'Ruby/DL: Cross-platform Dynamic Linking' in whys site at:

http://www.whytheluckystiff.net/articles/rubyOneEightOh.html

 

[Emmanuel Touzery]

The Ruby/DL website (http://google...) doesn't have much by way of
explanation. I've seen it claimed recently that it can be used _instead
of_ C library bindings, or some such. Can anyone elaborate?

with ruby/DL, you describe the API of the C function that you wrap. You
give the location of the dll/so. and then you call the function. It's a
simple as that! Problem of course comes with structures and this kind of
things.
ruby/DL requires no compilation, no C external library, and is portable
across systems.

check the "Ruby/DL: Cross-platform Dynamic Linking" paragraph in
http://whytheluckystiff.net/articles/rubyOneEightOh.html

of course the problem is the severely lacking documentation.

emmanuel

 

[Kevin Howe]

of course the problem is the severely lacking documentation.

Found some detailed DL documentation here:

http://www.polarhome.com:793/manual/ruby-docs-1.6.8/refm-ja/refm0392.html