> In MacRuby, all Ruby classes and objects are actually Objective-C classes and objects. There is no need to create costly proxies, convert objects, and cache instances. A Ruby object can be cast (toll-free) at the C level as an Objective-C object. The Ruby VM can also handle incoming Objective-C objects without conversion.

> In MacRuby, the primitive Ruby classes (e.g., String, Array, and Hash) have been re-implemented on top of their Cocoa equivalents (respectively, NSString, NSArray, and NSDictionary). As an example, all strings in MacRuby are Cocoa strings, so they can be passed directly to underlying C or Objective-C APIs. It is also possible to call any method of the String interface on any Cocoa string, subclass Objective-C methods, etc.

Interesting. Anyone used macruby, and would like to share experiences.

1. How is the learning curve for a ruby programmer ?

2. Are using the String and other core classes just the same as ruby, or more difficult / cumbersome.

3. Can you reuse code from pure ruby apps, or does this re-implementation cause issues/problems.

Could someone tell me what I would do using macruby. I am a ruby programmer on a Mac. What kind of apps could i write ?

Are these essentially GUI apps which otherwise i would write using Objective C or Cocoa (i assume its a standalone language) or QT, GTK etc.

So does this allow me to write apps that have the Mac L&F ?

I'm excited by MacRuby's architecture and performance, but can anyone comment on how extensive and usable the HotCocoa bindings are?

Ehm, sorry. I didn't notice the "upcoming". So it's not yet released but soon to be. (Is there any way to modify the title?)

Nice to see it progressing, but sad that we will probably never see it compiling iPhone apps.