JRuby Cookbook, 1st Edition by Justin Edelson; Henry Liu Publisher: O'Reilly Media, Inc. Pub Date: November 18, 2008 Print ISBN-13: 978-0-596-51980-3 Pages: 250 Overview If you're interested in JRuby, you probably don't need a turorial on Ruby, Rails, or Java -- you just need to know how to get things done. This Cookbook offers practical solutions for using the Java implementation of the Ruby language, with targeted recipes for deploying Rails web applications on Java servers, integrating JRuby code with Java technologies, developing JRuby desktop applications with Java toolkits, and more. Using numerous reusable code samples, JRuby Cookbook shows you how to: • Install and update JRuby on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux, and IDEs such as NetBeans and Eclipse • Package and deploy Rails apps on Java Servlet containers and Java EE application servers, including JBoss, Tomcat, and GlassFish • Integrate Ruby and Rails applications with popular Java EE technologies such as JMS, JMX, JPA, Spring, and Hibernate • Develop desktop and client applications with cross-platform Java UI technologies and toolkits such as Swing, SWT, and Java 2D • Maximize the flexibility of your testing and build environment, using both existing Java-based tools such as Ant and Maven and newer Ruby-based tools such as Rake, Raven, and Buildr The JRuby interpreter combines Ruby's simplicity and ease of use with Java's extensive libraries and technologies, a potent blend that opens new possibilities for Ruby, Rails, and Java. This Cookbook helps you take full advantage of JRuby's potential. "The JRuby Cookbook is an excellent book for any polyglot who is trying to bridge the gap between Java and Ruby. It provides solutions to specific problems developers face in both their development and testing environments, along with the applications they're building." -- Bob McWhirter, Research & Prototyping, Red Hat Middleware Editorial Reviews Product Description If you're interested in JRuby, you probably don't need a turorial on Ruby, Rails, or Java -- you just need to know how to get things done. This Cookbook offers practical solutions for using the Java implementation of the Ruby language, with targeted recipes for deploying Rails web applications on Java servers, integrating JRuby code with Java technologies, developing JRuby desktop applications with Java toolkits, and more. Using numerous reusable code samples, JRuby Cookbook shows you how to: Install and update JRuby on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux, and IDEs such as NetBeans and Eclipse Package and deploy Rails apps on Java Servlet containers and Java EE application servers, including JBoss, Tomcat, and GlassFish Integrate Ruby and Rails applications with popular Java EE technologies such as JMS, JMX, JPA, Spring, and Hibernate Develop desktop and client applications with cross-platform Java UI technologies and toolkits such as Swing, SWT, and Java 2D Maximize the flexibility of your testing and build environment, using both existing Java-based tools such as Ant and Maven and newer Ruby-based tools such as Rake, Raven, and Buildr The JRuby interpreter combines Ruby's simplicity and ease of use with Java's extensive libraries and technologies, a potent blend that opens new possibilities for Ruby, Rails, and Java. This Cookbook helps you take full advantage of JRuby's potential. "The JRuby Cookbook is an excellent book for any polyglot who is trying to bridge the gap between Java and Ruby. It provides solutions to specific problems developers face in both their development and testing environments, along with the applications they're building." -- Bob McWhirter, Research &Prototyping, Red Hat Middleware Copyright Copyright © 2009, Justin Edelson and Henry Liu. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Published by , , , . O'Reilly books may be purchased for educational, business, or sales promotional use. Online editions are also available for most titles (http://safari.oreilly.com). For more information, contact our corporate/institutional sales department: 800-998-9938 or [email protected]. Editor: Mike Loukides Production Editor: Sarah Schneider Editor: Colleen Gorman O'Reilly and the O'Reilly logo are registered trademarks of O'Reilly Media, Inc. JRuby Cookbook, the image of an African civet, and related trade dress are trademarks of O'Reilly Media, Inc. Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book, and O'Reilly Media, Inc. was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed in caps or initial caps. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher and authors assume no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein. Preface JRuby is just Ruby taking advantage of Java's VM; tak⁠i⁠n⁠g the suck out of Java and putting some extra awe⁠s⁠o⁠m⁠e into Ruby. —Charles Nutter, JRuby project lead Twitter, August 7, 2008 And with that quote, Charles Nutter summarizes the two forces that have recently brought attention to the JRuby project: the recognition that Java provides a powerful platform that can be used by languages other than Java, and the increase in interest in the Ruby programming language. In the recipes ahead, we will explore a wide variety of usage scenarios for JRuby. In Charles's terms, some recipes are about taking the suck out of Java, some are about putting some extra awesome into Ruby, and some are about both. P.1. Audience To fully leverage JRuby, you must be able to move freely between the Java and Ruby domains. In writing the JRuby Cookbook, we had in mind a reader with some understanding of both languages, possibly with a better understanding of one or the other. As a result, you won't find a lot of basic introductory material, save for the first chapter where we illustrate the areas where Ruby and Java are similar as well as where they differ. Our overall approach is that the purpose of the recipes in this book is not to educate you on some preexisting Java or Ruby capability, but instead to explain how to use JRuby within the context of, or as an enhancement to, these existing capabilities. For example, the recipes in the JRuby on Rails chapter are written for someone who has already created a (working) Rails application. P.2. Organization Chapter 1 This chapter starts off with a brief introduction to JRuby before stepping through a number of basic usages of JRuby, including how to use the RubyGems package management system and how to interact with Java code from Ruby code. The package concludes with a number of recipes about setting up various integrated development environments (IDEs) for working with JRuby. Chapter 2 This chapter is focused on a variety of scenarios for deploying Ruby on Rails applications using JRuby. Chapter 3 This chapter starts with several recipes about invoking Ruby code from Java code and then continues into recipes describing the usage of popular Java libraries such as Java Native Access ( JNA) and Jakarta Commons Logging from Ruby. Chapter 4 The recipes in this chapter are all about using JRuby with enterprise Java frameworks such as JMS, JNDI, EJB, Spring, and Hibernate. Chapter 5 This chapter describes a number of JRuby-based frameworks that facilitate the creation of user interfaces. It also includes recipes about image manipulation, applets, and desktop integration. Chapter 6 The recipes in this chapter are focused on using JRuby to enhance the build process of your Java project. Ant and Maven, the two most popular Java-based build tools, both have several different ways that JRuby can be used. There are also recipes about the JRuby-specific build tools Raven and Buildr. Chapter 7 The focus of this chapter is on JtestR, a package that includes JRuby and a variety of popular Ruby testing tools. Through the recipes in this chapter, you will learn how to write Ruby-based tests of Java code. Chapter 8 This final chapter includes a few recipes about effectively participating in the JRuby community. P.3. Conventions Used in This Book This book uses the following typographic conventions: Italic Used for example URLs, names of directories and files, options, and occasionally for emphasis. Constant width Used for program listings. Also used within paragraphs to refer to program elements such as namespaces, classes, and method names. Constant width italic Indicates text that should be replaced with user-supplied values. NOTE This icon indicates a tip, suggestion, or general note. This icon indicates a warning or caution. P.4. Using Code Examples This book is here to help you get your job done. In general, you may use the code in this book in your programs and documentation. You do not need to contact us for permission unless you're reproducing a significant portion of the code. For example, writing a program that uses several chunks of code from this book does not require permission. Selling or distributing a CD-ROM of examples from O'Reilly books does require permission. Answering a question by citing this book and quoting example code does not require permission. Incorporating a significant amount of example code from this book into your product's documentation does require permission. We appreciate, but do not require, attribution. An attribution usually includes the title, author, publisher, and ISBN. For example: "JRuby Cookbook, by Justin Edelson and Henry Liu. Copyright 2009 Justin Edelson and Henry Liu, 978-0-596-51980-3." If you feel your use of code examples falls outside fair use or the permission given above, feel free to contact us at [email protected]. P.5.