node_module

I'll often drop down to node.js if I really need to be close to the metal

— https://twitter.com/shit_hn_says/status/234856345579446272

Ruby is a pretty high level language, so isn't perfectly suited to things such as:

  1. Systems programming
  2. Being web-scale

It's also difficult to represent basic concepts in Ruby, as the sheer amount of dynamism and expressivity baked into the language compels the programmer to only think of code in terms of objects and orientation, and Dijkstra. This is way too high level.

Thankfully, there is a burgeoning language on the scene that empowers the programmer to really think about the nuts and bolts of their implementation. Your code no longer explains to you what you want to happen, but how it should do it.

Naturally, issuing commands to a computer -- typically in the form of an assembly language, compiled C code, or JavaScript -- allows the program to scale effortlessly under extreme loads, and allows you to reason about what exactly your hardware is doing.

To that end, this library lets you drop down to JavaScript at the method level, so parts of your class can be executed more efficiently. This makes Ruby perfectly suited to things such as:

  1. Systems programming
  2. Being web-scale

How to install

If you use Bundler, add it to your Gemfile, then run bundle install.

gem 'node_module'

If you don't, install the gem manually.

gem install node_module

How to use

require 'node_module'

class AbstractConcepts

  include NodeModule

  def existentialism
    self.name = "me"
  end

  def solipsism
    (constants - [self.class]).map(&:remove_const)
  end

  node_module

  def pythagorean_triplet?(a, b, c)
    a**2 + b**2 == c**2
  end
end

Any method you define after node_module will be converted to JavaScript before being executed.

This is a ridiculous proof of concept, so there are a few issues...

Current limitations

  • Things might break if your methods aren't fully self-contained. This is because they're currently compiled outside of the scope of the class they were defined in. (Although there's nothing preventing an entire class being parsed as javascript in future).

  • It doesn't actually use Node yet

  • It buggers up IRB

  • It probably can't handle anything too clever.

  • You can't use 1.9 syntax

What Ruby code will work?

Check Opal for that. It's what does all the hard work.