This is part 2 of the tale of my adventures in Ruby C extension land.
If you haven't read part 1, you might want to go back there.
The Jouney Begins...
I started my ventures into the unknown territory of Ruby C extension land from the small village of Ruby gem land. I had been living there for roughly over a year now and I wanted to see, if the world hadn't more to offer.
So I set out to the borders of the realm known to me, packed with a good old pure Ruby gem and nothing more than broad band internet access.
The crossroads
When you travel through Ruby gem land, nothing much exciting is coming your way. Everything is well regulated and well documented -- there are info stands every 2 meters.
But once you reach its border, everything gets rougher. The mountains climb higher, the grass grows bigger and the forests get more imprevious.
As soon as you are over the border, you find yourself walking a narrow, shadowy path that leads directly to a crossroads.
There you have to face a decision:
Will I go down St. ReadAllDocumentation Lane or will I follow the faster, but much darker JustDoIt Alley?
Being a responsible programmer, I of course chose the latter...
But nonetheless I'd like to list some great sources on the topic, just in case you're one of those whacky people that like to read manuals:
- The Pickaxe has some pages on C extensions.
- Ruby Inside has a 5 minute tutorial.
- eqqon has extensive API documentation.
- segment7 has some useful guidelines on C extension development.
Now, while you ponder on which way to go, I'll leave you for a little time to finish the next part of this enchanting narration...