varietiesruby

Varietiesruby is a term used to describe the landscape of Ruby language varieties, encompassing the standard Ruby interpreter and its alternative runtimes, as well as related dialects and tooling that shape how Ruby code runs and evolves. The term is used in community discussions to compare performance, compatibility, and ecosystem support across different environments.

Major implementations form the core of varietiesruby. The reference implementation is MRI (Matz's Ruby Interpreter). Other notable runtimes include JRuby (runs on the Java Virtual Machine), Rubinius, MRuby (a small, embeddable Ruby), and TruffleRuby (built on the GraalVM ecosystem). IronRuby is historically noted, though it is no longer actively developed. Each variety aims to support Ruby language features while differing in performance models, threading behavior, garbage collection, and integration with host platforms. Some projects emphasize interoperability with other ecosystems (such as Java or C environments), while others optimize for small footprint or embedding in constrained devices.

Versioning and compatibility are central concerns within varietiesruby. Ruby has progressed through multiple major lines, including 1.8, 1.9, 2.x, and 3.x, with changes that can affect syntax, semantics, and standard libraries. Porting code or using native extensions may require attention to the specific interpreter and version. Compatibility shims and adapters exist in some runtimes, but not all gems or extensions behave identically across every variety.

Impact and usage vary by environment. Web applications developed with Rails often run on MRI or JRuby, while MRuby enables embedding Ruby in devices or applications with strict resource limits. The choice of variety influences tooling, such as bundlers and test frameworks, deployment pipelines, and overall ecosystem portability.