So I see that unity has the support for c#, JS and Boo.
I could learn one of these but I would like to make a 'compiler' or something similar that would let me write ruby code and either output JS code or make a layer that could be read by the Unity compiler.
Is this even a possibility. Im willing to invest many hours in this and have a fair bit of experience.
If your question is actually "how do I compile Ruby to JavaScript" then that's easier to answer:
Opal: Ruby to JavaScript compiler
However, you're going to be mucher better off learning one of the supported languages. It's very hard to debug "your" code when what's running is a paraphrasing of the code in another language.
I'm not that familiar with C# but if it's anything like C, it's quite possible you could create bindings from Ruby to Unity and just use it directly. Likely you could even get some kind of community going. This would be much preferable to trying to auto-refactor languages.
I recommend the "play my code" site.
It is possible to "conpiles Ruby to JavaScript", to operate the Ruby Game in a browser, just as JS.
http://www.playmycode.com/build/edit/6172
Unity 3d doesn't use Javascript, i think unity corporation call it as javascript just for marketing purposes, Unity uses UnityScript which is Boo based implementation, you can see the source here https://github.com/bamboo/unityscript
So, even if you got some compilers ruby to javascript such as Opal, you'll still compile it to JavaScript and not UnityScript, there's a big diferences between them:
Javascript is a prototype based language, and UnityScript is an class based.
UnityScript is more JScript.NET than Javascript.
See more at http://wiki.unity3d.com/index.php?title=UnityScript_versus_JavaScript
I think the easily way to integrate ruby language rather to write a full compiler is integrate IronRuby, which is a Ruby implementation written in C#, which will generate bytecodes for CLR that Unity can read.
I did a similar project with python, which uses IronPython (https://github.com/cesardeazevedo/Unity3D-Python-Editor), it's still very limited, such you still have to call python code from C#, but it works and there's a interpreter that can help you in your development, if you want to create thousands of game objects with simple python commands.
Related
I am working on a Genetic Algorithm solution to TSP in Lua, and have reached a point where I need a better method of troubleshooting and checking results. The best way to do this would be with a GUI, but I can't seem to find anything about GUIs in Lua.
I've done some searching around Google, and haven't found anything built in to the language. I have found Toolkits such as the one found here:
http://lua-users.org/wiki/GraphicalUserInterfaceToolkits
However, I am new enough to Lua that I do not know how to properly use these. Any help on the matter would be greatly appreciated.
A few ideas:
But first, what platform are you on?
Are you constrained by platform? If not, I've done very exciting things directly on an iPad, in Codea. Pure Lua, built on OpenGL, so built-in API for graphics support.
Beyond that, you could probably use Love2d. It's meant for game dev, but you could probably adapt it to your needs. It's a Lua API, has graphics support, and is cross-platform. I don't know much about it (yet), so others could pipe in with their thoughts/opinions.
If you are still shaky in Lua, I suggest to stick to the console for a while. GUI, whatever the language, is usually messy and unsatisfying for beginners.
If you already know some HTML and Javascript, consider using Lua with a web framework, and using the browser to control your program through a REST API:
Awesome-Lua#Web/Networking Platforms
Apart from that, I have yet to find a GUI framework that feels right for Lua. Almost everything is a thin wrapper around a C or C++ API and handles exactly like that. On the other hand, with the web and Electron on the rise there seems little need for it.
I don't get it. I'm a C/C++ programmer, what's the possible use of V8 for me? There are few examples and tutorials out there, and they all lack substance - I don't want to use another library to just add a couple of numbers or print something in a console window.
My question is: is there a real use for this technology, and if yes, then would be the scenario?
Also, can I do any part of GUI this way?
Help is appreciated.
"V8 is Google's open source JavaScript engine"
So the whole point is ability to write code in JavaScript, and run it quite fast (for an interpreted dynamic language). Google Chrome, which is written in C++, uses it for internal scripting — not only for regular web page scripting, but also for extension code. Let's consider this as a 'real use'.
So, if your app needs scripting, V8 may be good for you (JS is not a perfect language, but stil quite decent). As for GUI, you'll need to bind your GUI components with JS first, there's no built-in UI components (as Tk in TCL).
One real use of v8 is node.js. I hope that is good enough
Google V8 is a JavaScript engine.
I don't really think it is what you are looking for.
V8 is a JavaScript engine. The most common use for it is to allow users of your software to write scripts in simpler language than that your software was written with (C++ in your case).
It´s the same approach of Matlab, AutoCad, Microsoft Office, and etc.
If you write any kind of commercial application, you can expose some APIs and allow other developer to create addons for your applications without require them to know C/C++.
How about this for real use: You can use javascript as a debugging or testing tool - add a javascript console to your app and bind the commands of your GUI application to javascript functions, and you'll be able to test your UI application using javascript scripts. This way you'll reduce the amount of manual testing needed - manual testing would only have to verify that a correct command was excutes as a result of user action.
You can do GUI in javascript the same way that Qt is being used in Python and other scripting languages (see PyQt, and QtRuby, PerlQt, etc.). For how to create bindings for V8 you may want to check out this
I notice that Java has a number of ancillary scripting languages. Clojure and Groovy for example. My understanding is that these can be used when the full might and power of Java does not need to be applied and a speedy cludge can be hacked in Groovy/Clojure. But at the end of the day the scripting tools contribution gets compiled into the application
Question 1. Is there a similar scripting in XCode? I was not so interested in Python or Ruby in this situation as they are languages in their own right added in, as indeed I think can happen in Java, but I was looking for a purpose built tools.
Question 2. If there is such a tool would it count the application out vis-a-vis the new Apple guidelines as to what can be used to generate iXxx apps?
F-Script is a scripting language that integrates well with Objective-C/Cocoa applications. Might not be exactly what you're looking for, but it's worth a look.
For such things there is AppleScript, with its own IDE AppleScript Studio. It has bindings to control Cocoa Applications, be embedded inside of them or even work as stand-alone scripts.
The problem is that it cannot be integrated inside iXxx applications because iPhone-OS Cocoa Foundation framework doesn't include it.
As mentioned by mipadi, you can use F-Script for Cocoa applicaitons.
If you are staying mainly in C, then Lua is another option.
I've been developing Windows based applications for a long time and most of my present clients still desire a desktop or client/server Windows application. Is it possible to use Ruby for such applications as opposed to its primary purpose of being a Web-programming language?
Ruby is not primarily a web programming language even though Ruby on Rails is certainly suited for web development. Ruby is a general purpose scripting language.
The FXRuby and WxRuby frameworks are the most fully featured GUI frameworks for Ruby. You can write the apps in Ruby and then generate a Windows executable. The frameworks are cross-platform, so you could also run the apps written in these on other platforms, like Linux or Mac OS X.
There are also a few other less popular approaches like QtRuby and Shoes, and you can even use IronRuby (a CLR Ruby implementation) to write a .Net application.
Ruby is a general purpose object oriented scripting language. Ruby on Rails is a web application framework. Ruby predates Rails by about ten years. Don't confuse the two.
Yes, you can. Ruby is a full scripting language. You might want to start with the Ruby language homepage to see the capabilities and libraries that are available.
However, just because you can doesn't mean that you should. Before jumping in and using Ruby for a project, see if Ruby can give you things that other languages can't or if there are any disadvantages to using Ruby.
I know this thread is old, but for future reference to anyone who's looking into options for using Ruby for a GUI app, don't use QtRuby. I had developed a project for school in about a week, fully functional and pretty, only to find out that I could not release it. There was simply no way to package and distribute the application without having your users simulate your exact environment (install all the gem dependencies, build Qt development libraries etc). I tried using:
Crate: supposedly cross-platform, but I found only 1 usage example that's written in 2008 out of ~2 hours of googling, and the example basically covers a very specific subset of applications (some ssl/https authentication gem or w/e...)
Ocra: this looks like a candidate, but it's windows-only and didn't meet my requirements, as I had to target the three primary platforms
tar2rubyscript + rubyscript2exe: I had spent most of my time trying to get this to work because I've come across many who claimed that this is the way to go for distributing GUI apps built in ruby (albeit using other toolkits, Tk/GTK/wxRuby) but it didn't work either; I was endlessly faced with a cryptic error that basically breaks Qt::UiLoader functionality, in other words, you can't load .ui sheets you create with QtDesigner so...
Yes I'm angry and frustrated honestly, because I don't see the point of creating software that you just can't release for anyone to use. Now I'm left with a deadline coming up in a week, and I just hope I make it in time porting the app to C++.
So my answer is, don't use QtRuby. At least for now.
On a mac, you can use the Ruby Cocoa lib to create (what appear to be) native applications. If you want something more cross platform then you might consider a wrapper like shoes or qt.
The Qt toolkit seems the most popular way to do it. The website is http://www.darshancomputing.com/qt4-qtruby-tutorial/
I'm currently writing a little app in a wrapper called Shoes. This seems to make it as simple as pie to create windowed apps in ruby. http://shoes.heroku.com/ is the website.
At the moment Shoes looks suitable only for small personal apps. I say this because it's author recently went AWOL and it's not clear whether it will be developed further. I'm using it to write a game log parser to generate statistics from a flight sim. It's ticking along nicely.
Ruby can be used for developing GUI applications, whether Windows specific or cross-platform.
For Windows targetted you should look at the work going on with IronRuby since they have good integration with the .NET framework overall and with Silverlight, in the event you want to do apps that can bridge web and desktop. At this point IronRuby can be used to develop for Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) or WinForms.
For cross-platform you have Ruby bindings for QT, FOX and others.
You should look at IronRuby - WPF and windows forms are both supported:
I want to write a front-end to an application written in C/C++.
I use Solaris 10 and plan to port the application to some other architectures (Windows first).
I'd recommend taking a look at wxWidgets to provide some cross platform UI widgets that will work on Solaris and Windows.
Qt 4 is the best tool for this job. If you want to work with other languages, it also has bindings for Java and Python
On a Mac, this would be easy. The Cocoa API is great when programming in Objective C (which compiles fine with C/C++ files).
Otherwise the situation is a bit more grim. As for Rapid prototype, you might want to check the CodeGear (Borland/C++ Builder) tools. I think their VCL library is cross-platform.
Otherwise, you could interface with a scripting language like Ruby and use fantastic front end libraries like Shoes. Python also interfaces with wxWidgets to make writing cross-platform front ends easy. Keep in mind that this all requires taking time to make sure your C/C++ code can talk to the scripting language. This is not trivial, and the amount of effort required depends upon the style of your code base. (Oh my God.)
Lastly, you could just use wxWidgets itself. This might be your best bet since it requires no additional overhead than coding the UI itself. That said, C++ is not the greatest language for designing UIs.
And super lastly, consider writing a code generator that converts from say Shoes to whatever wxWidgets code is needed to generate the same Shoes app. That way you can do easier UI design but still get C++ code in the end. Likewise, you could code gen off of the Python/wxWidgets code. Then sell such a code generator. :-)
GTK-- and Glade.
Thats' the C++ bindings on GTK
GTK will work on windows ( just look at GIMP )
Works everywhere, no QT license to mess with your millions-making.
I use wxWidgets myself. It makes good use of the C++ language features and uses smart pointers, so object and memory management is not that hard. In fact, it feels like writing in a scripting language.
Coupled with a dialog editor/code generator like wxFormBuilder or wxDesigner, (links to screenshots) it becomes a good toolkit for rapid development.
Have a look at FLTK which supports X11 and Windows.
Ultimate++ is a cross platform rapid application development framework for C++. It is aimed specifically at rapid development. The Ultimate++ website provides some comparisons to other frameworks mentioned such as Qt and wxWidgets.
I have used ASP.NET Web Forms to make UI front-end to collection of command line application written in legacy language, RESTful-ish web service, and bash scripts.
Once it works on Firefox, it should work at least on Firefox on other architecture. If you haven't played around with it, you should give ASP.NET a try (ASP.NET MVC seems to be the current trend). Not quite the same as RAD, but it does give you visual design of forms etc.