Ruru (Rust + Ruby = :heart:)
Native Ruby extensions in Rust
Have you ever considered rewriting some parts of your slow Ruby application?
Just rewrite your Ruby application with Rust method by method, class by class. It does not require to change interface of your classes or to change any other Ruby code.
As simple as Ruby, as efficient as Rust.
Examples
The famous String#blank?
method
pub extern
Defining a new class
Let's say you have a Calculator
class.
(1..number).each_with_object({}) do
hash[index] = index ** 3
end
end
end
# ... somewhere in the application ...
Calculator.new.pow_3(5) #=> { 1 => 1, 2 => 8, 3 => 27, 4 => 64, 5 => 125 }
You found it's very slow to call pow_3
for big number and decided to replace the whole class
with Rust.
pub extern
new.define;
Ruby:
# No Calculator class in Ruby anymore
# ... somewhere in the application ...
Calculator.new.pow_3(5) #=> { 1 => 1, 2 => 8, 3 => 27, 4 => 64, 5 => 125 }
So nothing has changed in the API of class thus no need to change code elsewhere in the app.
Replacing only several methods instead of the whole class
If the Calculator
class from the example above has more methods Ruby methods, but we want to
replace only pow_3
, use Class::from_existing()
.define;
from_existing
Calling Ruby code from Rust
Getting an account balance of some User
whose name is John and who is 18 or 19 years old.
User
.find_by(age: [18, 19], name: )
.account_balance
let mut conditions = new;
conditions.store;
conditions.store;
let account_balance =
from_existing
.send
.send
.as_fixnum
.to_i64;
Check out Documentation for more examples!
... and why FFI is not enough?
-
No support of native Ruby types;
-
No way to create a standalone application to run Ruby VM separately;
-
No way to call your Ruby code from Rust;
How to use?
Warning! The crate is WIP.
There are two ways of using Ruru:
-
Standalone application - Rust is run first as a compiled executable file and then it calls Ruby code (see docs for
VM::init()
) -
Running Rust code from Ruby application
The second way requires additional steps (to be improved):
- Your local MRI copy has to be built with the
--enable-shared
option. For example, using rbenv:
CONFIGURE_OPTS=--enable-shared
- Add Ruru to
Cargo.toml
[]
= ">= 0.5.0"
- Compile your library as
dylib
[]
= ["dylib"]
- Create a function which will initialize the extension
pub extern
- Open the library and call function from Ruby
= Fiddle::dlopen()
Fiddle::Function.new(library[], [], Fiddle::TYPE_VOIDP).call
library
- Ruru is ready :heart: