C/C++ within Ruby code?

Question

C/C++ would be good option to write some of the performance critical aspects of a Ruby Application. I know this is possible.

I would like to know how to add C/C++ code into Ruby code; any other language for that matter.

Are there any practical applications of this which you noticed in open source projects or else?

Answer 1

Hi,

you should have a look at SWIG - it allows you to create ruby extensions in C/C++.

Answer 2

Compile your high performance code into a system service/executable, and call it from inside Ruby...?

Answer 3

Look in the "Extending Ruby" section of the Pickaxe book:

http://www.ruby-doc.org/docs/ProgrammingRuby/html/ext_ruby.html

Answer 4

Seems like you need to read up on Extending Ruby

Answer 5

Besides "Extending Ruby", here are two other resources:

• README.EXT - shows you more about how to build C extensions. A good compliment to "Extending Ruby"
• Ruby Inline - This is a library that tries to make it easier to build C extensions by having you call methods in ruby to compile C code.

Answer 6

We use ffi in one of our projects.

Ruby-FFI is a ruby extension for programmatically loading dynamic libraries, binding functions within them, and calling those functions from Ruby code. Moreover, a Ruby-FFI extension works without changes on Ruby and JRuby.

It works quite well.