Colleague, friend and generally top guy on IronRuby Edd Morgan has just been published over on InfoQ. To wet the appetite… a snippet or three. IronRuby for Rubyists IronRuby is Microsoft's implementation of the Ruby language we all know and love with the added bonus of interoperability with the .NET framework — the Iron in the name is actually an acronym for 'Implementation running on .NET'. It's supported by the .NET Common Language Runtime as well as, albeit unofficially, the Mono project. You'd be forgiven for harbouring some question in your mind about running a dynamic language such as Ruby atop the CLR - that's where the DLR (Dynamic Language Runtime) comes in. The DLR is Microsoft's way of providing dynamic language capability on top of the CLR. Both IronRuby and the DLR are, as part of Microsoft's commitment to open source software, available as part of the Microsoft Public License on GitHub and CodePlex respectively… And Metaprogramming with IronRuby The art and science of metaprogramming — especially in Ruby, where it's an absolute joy — is something that could very easily span an entire article. As you would hope, IronRuby code is fully able to manipulate itself allowing you to bend your classes to your whim just as you would expect with a good dynamic language… And Riding the irails? So let's get to the point. I think it's a solid bet to make that a large proportion of Ruby programmers are familiar with the Rails framework - perhaps it's even safe to assume that most were first led to the Ruby language by the siren song of the Rails framework itself. Long story short, IronRuby is compatible enough to run your Rails app… Now… get yourself over to the full article and also check out some of Edds other work below. Related Links: 5 Steps to getting started with IronRuby Mini Book Review of IronRuby Unleashed by Shay Friedman Guest Post: Using IronRuby and .NET to produce the ‘Hello World of WPF’ – also by Edd Getting PhP and Ruby working on Windows Azure and SQL Azure Guest Post: What's IronRuby, and how do I put it on Rails? – also by Edd
