Developing Cocoa Applications with macRuby

Developing Cocoa
Applications With

MacRuby
Brendan G. Lim
@brendanlim
brendan@intridea.com

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Outline
• Objective-C & Cocoa
• RubyCocoa
• MacRuby
• Live Coding
• HotCocoa


Objective -C
• Object-oriented extensions to C
• Strongly typed
• Like Ruby, inﬂuenced by Smalltalk
• Primarily used for Mac OS X and iOS


Cocoa
• High-level API for Mac OS X

• Set of frameworks

• Includes FoundationKit, AppKit, etc.

• Apps typically built using tools like XCode
and Interface Builder


Why make desktop apps?


Diﬀerent Paradigm


Mac App Store

1. Build MacRuby application
2. Submit to App Store
4. Proﬁt


Why Ruby instead
of Objective-C?


Apple Loves Ruby

2002 Mac OS X 10.2 Ruby 1.6.7

2005 Mac OS X 10.4 Ruby 1.8.2

2007 Mac OS X 10.5 Ruby 1.8.6
RubyCocoa, RubyGems, Rails

2009 Mac OS X 10.6 Ruby 1.8.7
RubyCocoa, RubyGems, Rails

2011 Mac OS X 10.7 Ruby 1.9.x?
MacRuby? RubyCocoa, RubyGems, Rails


Ruby vs Objective-C

object.method(param)
=

[object method:param];


Ruby vs Objective-C

array = []
=
NSMutableArray *array =
[[NSMutableArray alloc] init];


Ruby vs Objective-C

“ string”.strip
=
[@“ string” stringByTrimmingCharactersInSet:
[NSCharacterSet whitespaceAndNewlineCharacterSet]]


Ruby vs Objective-C

dictionary = {“key1” => “value1”, “key2” => “value2”}

=
NSArray *keys = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:@”key1”,@”key2”];
NSArray *data = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:@”value1”,@”value2”];
NSDictionary *dictionary = [NSDictionary dictionaryWithObjects:objects forKeys:keys];


+


RubyCocoa
• Bridge between Objective-C and Ruby

• Manipulate Objective-C objects using Ruby

• Write Cocoa apps in Ruby

• Runs on Ruby 1.8

• Ships with OSX Leopard


RubyCocoa vs Objective-C
OSX::NSNotificationCenter.defaultCenter.addObserver_selector_name_object(
self,
:window_moved,
"NSWindowDidMoveNotification",
nil
)

=
[[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self,
selector:@selector(windowMoved:)
name:”NSWindowDidMoveNotification”
object:nil];


So, Why Not
RubyCocoa?
(besides it looking gross)


Why Not RubyCocoa?
• It’s a bridge!

• Two runtimes, GCs, etc.

• Object conversions

• Syntax doesn’t feel like idiomatic Ruby

• It’s getting replaced


MacRuby

• Implementation of Ruby 1.9 that runs on top
the Objective-C runtime

• Open sourced and supported by Apple

• Replacing RubyCocoa

• Objects are peers with no translation layer


MacRuby
Object NSObject
String NSMutableString
Number NSNumber
Array NSMutableArray
Hash NSMutableDictionary


MacRuby

Objects Objective-C
Classes Objective-C
Methods Objective-C


MacRuby
>> s = “magicruby”
=> “magicruby”

>> s.class
=> String

>> s.class.ancestors
=> [String,NSMutableString,NSString,Comparable,NSObject,Kernel]

>> s.upcase
=> “MAGICRUBY”

>> s.uppercaseString
=> “MAGICRUBY”


MacRuby

>> NSString.new(“magicruby”)
=> “magicruby”

>> NSString.stringWithString(“magicruby”)
=> “magicruby”

>> NSString.alloc.initWithString(“magicruby”)
=> “magicruby”


MacRuby
>> a = []
=> []

>> a.class
=> Array

>> a.class.ancestors
=> [Array,NSMutableArray,NSArray,Enumerable,NSObject,Kernel]

>> a << “MagicRuby”
=> [“MagicRuby”]


MacRuby vs Objective-C
-(id) tableView:(NSTableView *)tableView
objectValueForColumn:(NSTableColumn *)column
row:(int)rowIndex { .. }


-(id) tableView:(NSTableView *)tableView
objectValueForColumn:(NSTableColumn *)column
row:(int)rowIndex { .. }

def tableView(tableView
objectValueForColumn:column
row:rowIndex)
end


Interface Builder Outlets & Actions

!


Interface Builder Outlets

# Interface
NSString *myString;
@property(nonatomic,retain) IBOutlet NSString *myString;

=

attr_accessor :myString


Interface Builder Actions

# Implementation
-(IBAction) myAction:(id)sender { ... }

=

def myAction(sender)
...
end


MacRuby - Gem Support

• sudo macgem install awesome_gem

• Not all gems supported right now


MacRuby - Objective-C
Frameworks & Libraries

• Libraries must have garbage collection support

• Libraries must be turned into bundles

• Frameworks can easily be included


Testing MacRuby

• Any Ruby testing framework instantly becomes
an Objective-C testing framework

• Test::Unit

• RSpec

• etc...


What tools will we
be using?


Xcode


Interface Builder


Instruments


Let’s build a MacRuby app


HotCocoa

• Created by Rich Kilmer

• Ruby layer that sits on top of Cocoa, etc.

• Use Ruby to easily create user interfaces

• Used to be included with MacRuby

• Now available as a gem


HotCocoa
win = NSWindow.alloc.initWithContentRect([10,20,300,300],
styleMask: (NSTitleWindowMask |
NSCloseableWindowMask |
NSMiniatureizableWindowMask |
NSResizeableWindowMask)

=

win = window :frame => [10,20,300,300]


HotCocoa

sudo macgem install hotcocoa

hotcocoa NAME_OF_APP


Hello World in HotCocoa
require ‘hotcocoa’

class Application
include HotCocoa

def start
application :name => "Hello" do |app|
app.delegate = self
window :frame => [500,500,200,100], :title => "Hello" do |win|
win << label(:text => "Hello World",:layout => {:start => false})
win.will_close { exit }
end
end
end
end

Application.new.start


Questions?

MacRuby in Action
http://manning.com/lim

http://macruby.org
http://bit.ly/macruby-getting-started
http://bit.ly/macruby-examples
http://bit.ly/tdd-macruby

Developing Cocoa Applications with macRuby

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