Is it possible to use jruby to write an applet or is it better to use iron ruby for silverlight?

Question

If I wanted to dabble with ruby, would it be easier to write an applet in Jruby or a Silverlight XAP with iron ruby?

So far all I have is a vague idea that it might be possible.

Answer 1

I'd suggest this is one of those happy "it depends" things. Some questions to consider that may help you clarify your thinking:

• Which environment do you know better?
• What are your target environment(s)?
• Are you happy to run a not-yet-1.0 version (IronRuby?)
• Can you get both (either) to run in your development environment?
• How much (any?) support/prior art available?

I have a nagging feeling this may need to go beyond "dabbling" ;-)

Answer 2

Firstly, if you want to dabble with Ruby the language i'd just download the windows installer, plenty of resources in that.

If it's specifically applets you want to look at check out the recently released Gestalt, allows you to run Ruby in the browser (needs Silverlight) http://visitmix.com/labs/gestalt/getstarted/

Answer 3

I'd go with jruby because:

1. Jruby is more mature than IronRuby
2. Applets are more mature than Silverlight
3. I like open source and hate MS (hate silverlight not IronRuby, respect for IR devs)
4. Java libs galore

But if u already know a lot about .NET mabe IronRuby