anyolite

# Anyolite

Anyolite is a Crystal shard which adds a fully functional mruby (or even regular Ruby) interpreter to Crystal.

![Test](https://github.com/Anyolite/anyolite/workflows/Test/badge.svg)

![Release](https://img.shields.io/github/v/release/Anyolite/anyolite)
![ReleaseDate](https://img.shields.io/github/release-date/Anyolite/anyolite)

![License](https://img.shields.io/github/license/Anyolite/anyolite)

# Description

Anyolite allows for wrapping Crystal classes and functions into Ruby with little effort.
This way, Ruby can be used as a scripting language to Crystal projects, with the major advantage of a similar syntax.

Useful links for an overview:
* Demo project: https://github.com/Anyolite/ScapoLite
* Wiki: https://github.com/Anyolite/anyolite/wiki
* Documentation: https://anyolite.github.io/anyolite

# Features

* Bindings to an mruby interpreter
* Near complete support to regular Ruby as alternative implementation (also known as MRI or CRuby)
* Wrapping of nearly arbitrary Crystal classes and methods to Ruby
* Easy syntax without unnecessary boilerplate code
* Simple system to prevent garbage collector conflicts
* Support for keyword arguments and default values
* Objects, arrays, hashes, structs, enums and unions as function arguments and return values are completely valid
* Ruby methods can be called at runtime as long as all their possible return value types are known
* Ruby closures can be handled as regular variables
* Methods and constants can be excluded, modified or renamed with annotations
* Options to compile scripts directly into the executable

# Prerequisites

You need to have the following programs installed (and in your PATH variable, if you are on Windows):
* Ruby (for building mruby)
* Rake (for building the whole project)
* Git (for downloading mruby)
* GCC or Microsoft Visual Studio 19 (for building the object files required for Anyolite, depending on your OS)

## Using regular Ruby instead of mruby

It is possible to use Anyolite with regular Ruby (MRI) instead of mruby. An instruction to install MRI can be found at [Using Ruby instead of mruby](https://github.com/Anyolite/anyolite/wiki/Using-Ruby-instead-of-mruby) in the wiki.

# Installing

Put this shard as a requirement into your shard.yml project file and then call
```bash
shards install
```
from a terminal.

Alternatively, you can clone this repository into the lib folder of your project and run
```bash
rake build_shard
```
manually from a terminal or the MSVC Developer Console (on Windows) to install the shard without using the crystal shards program.

If you want to use other options for Anyolite, visit [Changing build configurations](https://github.com/Anyolite/anyolite/wiki/Changing-build-configurations) in the wiki.

# How to use

Imagine a Crystal class for a really bad RPG:

```crystal
module RPGTest
  class Entity
    property hp : Int32

    def initialize(@hp : Int32)
    end

    def damage(diff : Int32)
      @hp -= diff
    end

    def yell(sound : String, loud : Bool = false)
      if loud
        puts "Entity yelled: #{sound.upcase}"
      else
        puts "Entity yelled: #{sound}"
      end
    end

    def absorb_hp_from(other : Entity)
      @hp += other.hp
      other.hp = 0
    end
  end
end
```

Now, you want to wrap this class in Ruby. All you need to do is to execute the following code in Crystal (current commit; see documentation page for the version of the latest release):

```crystal
require "anyolite"

Anyolite::RbInterpreter.create do |rb|
  Anyolite.wrap(rb, RPGTest)

  rb.load_script_from_file("examples/hp_example.rb")
end
```

Well, that's it already. 
The last line in the block calls the following example script:

```ruby
a = RPGTest::Entity.new(hp: 20)
a.damage(diff: 13)
puts a.hp

b = RPGTest::Entity.new(hp: 10)
a.absorb_hp_from(other: b)
puts a.hp
puts b.hp
b.yell(sound: 'Ouch, you stole my HP!', loud: true)
a.yell(sound: 'Well, take better care of your public attributes!')
```

The example above gives a good overview over the things you can already do with Anyolite.
More features will be added in the future.

# Limitations

See [Limitations and solutions](https://github.com/Anyolite/anyolite/wiki/Limitations-and-solutions) in the Wiki section for a detailed list.

# Why this name?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anyolite

In short, it is a rare variant of the crystalline mineral called zoisite, with ruby and other crystal shards (of pargasite) embedded.

The term 'anyoli' means 'green' in the Maasai language, thus naming 'anyolite'.

# Roadmap

## Upcoming releases

### Version 2.0.0

IMPORTANT: Version 2.0.0 will introduce breaking changes to improve the general user experience.

This means that the build process and some parts of the API will change. There will be a dedicated
section in the Wiki for migrating from Anyolite 1 to Anyolite 2, so compatibility can easily be
restored.

The list of features for Anyolite 2 will expand over time, while development on Anyolite 1 continues
until Anyolite 2 is released.

#### Breaking changes

* [ ] Discard postinstall option in favor of more sophisticated build script
* [ ] Simplify building with custom options
* [ ] Set optional arguments being keywords for method as default
* [ ] Add option for using either dynamic or static linking

#### Usability

* [ ] Add Wiki section about migrating from Anyolite 1
* [ ] Add error messages when using wrong annotation syntax

### Later releases

* [ ] Automated generation of Ruby documentations for wrapped functions
* [ ] MRI support on Windows (does currently not work for some reason)
* [ ] MRI support for version 3.1.0 and up
* [ ] Support and continuous integration for Mac
* [ ] Support for bindings using `Data` and `Struct` from Ruby
* [ ] Multiple interpreters for mruby
* [ ] Add option to make script calls thread-safe

### Wishlist, entries might not be possible to implement

* [ ] Splat argument and/or arbitrary keyword passing
* [ ] Support for slices and bytes
* [ ] Classes as argument type
* [ ] Resolve context even in generic type union arguments
* [ ] General improvement of type resolution
* [ ] Bignum support
* [ ] Range support