Written in C | Operating system | |
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Developer(s) Yukihiro Matsumoto (among others) Initial release 1995; 22 years ago (1995) Stable release 2.4.0 / December 25, 2016; 2 months ago (2016-12-25) Type Ruby programming language interpreter | ||
Matz's Ruby Interpreter or Ruby MRI (also called CRuby) is the reference implementation of the Ruby programming language named after Ruby creator Yukihiro Matsumoto ("Matz"). Until the specification of the Ruby language in 2011, the MRI implementation was considered the de facto reference, especially since an independent attempt to create the specification (RubySpec) had failed.
Contents
The latest stable version is Ruby 2.4.0.
History
Yukihiro Matsumoto ("Matz") started working on Ruby on February 24, 1993, and released it to the public in 1995. "Ruby" was named as a gemstone because of a joke within Matsumoto's circle of friends alluding to the name of the Perl programming language.
The 1.8 branch has been maintained until June 2013, and 1.8.7 releases have been released since April 2008. This version provides bug fixes, but also many Ruby feature enhancements.
The RubySpec project has independently created a large test suite that captures 1.8.6/1.8.7/1.9 behavior as a reference conformance tool. Ruby MRI 1.9.2 passed over 99% of RubySpec., MRI Ruby 2.2 crashed on one of the tests. As a result of the limited uptake by the MRI developers, RubySpec project has been discontinued as of end of 2014.
Licensing terms
Prior to release 1.9.3, the Ruby interpreter and libraries were distributed as dual-licensed free and open source software, under the GNU General Public License or the Ruby License. In release 1.9.3, Ruby's License has been changed from a dual license with GPLv2 to a dual license with the 2-clause BSD license.
Operating systems
Ruby MRI is available for the following operating systems (supported Ruby versions can be different):
This list may not be exhaustive.
Criticism
Commonly noted limitations include: