Academic writing on the Ruby programming language
The Ruby programming language hasn't historically been the subject of much research, either in industry or academia. A lot of recent systems research has used languages like C, C++ and Java. Contemporary programming language research often uses languages like Java, Scala, Racket and Haskell. Modern research into VMs, compilers and garbage collectors is often based on Java or recently Python.
However there are now a growing number of research projects using Ruby. On this page we list theses and peer-reviewed papers and articles that cover Ruby implementation or use Ruby, including alternative implementations such as JRuby.
M. Grimmer, R. Schatz, C. Seaton, T. Würthinger, M. Luján. Cross-Language Interoperability in a Multi-Language Runtime. In ACM Transactions on Programming Languages and Systems (TOPLAS), Vol. 40, No. 2, 2018. TruffleRuby
B. Yang, J. Kim, S. Moon. Exceptionalization: A Java VM Optimization for Non-Java Languages. In ACM Transactions on Architecture and Code Optimization (TACO), volume 14, issue 1, 2017. JRuby
S. Xu, D. Bremner, D. Heidinga. Fusing Method Handle Graphs for Efficient Dynamic JVM Language Implementations. In Proceedings of the 9th ACM SIGPLAN International Workshop on Virtual Machines and Intermediate Languages (VMIL), 2017. JRuby
T. Würthinger, C. Wimmer, C. Humer, A. Wöss, L. Stadler, C. Seaton, G. Duboscq, D. Simon, M. Grimmer. Practical Partial Evaluation for High-Performance Dynamic Language Runtimes. In Proceedings of the Conference on Programming Language Design and Implementation (PLDI), 2017. TruffleRuby
C. Seaton. AST Specialisation and Partial Evaluation for Easy High-Performance Metaprogramming. In Proceedings of the 1st Workshop on Meta-Programming Techniques and Reflection (META), 2016. TruffleRuby
S. Xu, D. Bremner, D. Heidinga. MHDeS: Deduplicating Method Handle Graphs for Efficient Dynamic JVM Language Implementations. In Proceedings of the 11th Workshop on Implementation, Compilation, Optimization of Object-Oriented Languages, Programs and Systems (ICOOOLPS), 2016. JRuby
K. Tanaka, A. D. Nagumanthri, Y. Matsumoto. mruby – Rapid Software Development for Embedded Systems. In Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Computational Science and its Applications (ICCSA), 2015. mruby
S. Xu, D. Bremner, D. Heidinga. Mining Method Handle Graphs for Efficient Dynamic JVM Languages. In ACM proceedings 12th Conference on Principles and Practices of Programming on the Java Platform (PPPJ), 2015. JRuby
M. Viering. An Efficient Runtime System for Reactive Programming. Master thesis, Technische Universität Darmstadt, 2015. TruffleRuby
C. Seaton. Specialising Dynamic Techniques for Implementing the Ruby Programming Langauge. PhD thesis, University of Manchester, 2015. TruffleRuby
M. Grimmer, C. Seaton, R. Schatz, T. Würthinger, H. Mössenböck. High-Performance Cross-Language Interoperability in a Multi-Language Runtime. In Proceedings of 11th Dynamic Languages Symposium (DLS), 2015. TruffleRuby
F. Niephaus, M. Springer, T. Felgentreff, T. Pape, R. Hirschfeld. Call-target-specific Method Arguments. In Proceedings of the 10th Implementation, Compilation, Optimization of Object-Oriented Languages, Programs and Systems Workshop (ICOOOLPS), 2015. TruffleRuby
B. Daloze, C. Seaton, D. Bonetta, H. Mössenböck. Techniques and Applications for Guest-Language Safepoints. In Proceedings of the 10th Implementation, Compilation, Optimization of Object-Oriented Languages, Programs and Systems Workshop (ICOOOLPS), 2015. TruffleRuby
S. Marr, C. Seaton, S. Ducasse. Zero-Overhead Metaprogramming: Reflection and Metaobject Protocols Fast and without Compromises. In Proceedings of the 36th Conference on Programming Language Design and Implementation (PLDI), 2015. TruffleRuby
M. Grimmer, C. Seaton, T. Würthinger, H. Mössenböck. Dynamically Composing Languages in a Modular Way: Supporting C Extensions for Dynamic Languages. In Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Modularity, 2015. TruffleRuby
A. Wöß, C. Wirth, D. Bonetta, C. Seaton, C. Humer, and H. Mössenböck. An Object Storage Model for the Truffle Language Implementation Framework. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Principles and Practices of Programming on the Java Platform (PPPJ), 2014. TruffleRuby
M. Springer. Inter-language Collaboration in an Object-oriented Virtual Machine. Bachelor’s thesis, Hasso-Plattner-Institute, 2013. MagLev
S. Shiba, K. Sasada, K. Hiraki. CastOff: A Compiler for Ruby Implemented as a Library. In Journal of Information Processing Society of Japan, Transactions on Programming, 2012. In Japanese. MRI
S. Shiba, K. Sasada, S. Urabe, Y. Matsumoto, M. Inaba, K. Hiraki. A Practical AOT Compiler for Ruby. In Journal of Information Processing Society of Japan, Transactions on Programming, 2011. In Japanese. MRI
M. Furr, J. An, J. S. Foster, and M. Hicks. The Ruby Intermediate Language. In Proceedings of the Dynamic Language Symposium, 2009.
K. Sasada. YARV: Yet Another RubyVM: Innovating the Ruby Interpreter. In Proceedings of the Companion to the 20th Conference on Object-Oriented Programming, Systems, Languages, and Applications, 2005. MRI
M. Springer, and H. Masuhara. Object Support in an Array-Based GPGPU Extension for Ruby. In Proceedings of the 3rd International Workshop on Libraries, Languages, and Compilers for Array Programming (ARRAY), 2016.
B. Daloze, S. Marr, D. Bonetta, H. Mössenböck. Efficient and Thread-Safe Objects for Dynamically-Typed Languages. In Proceedings of the ACM International Conference on Object Oriented Programming Systems Languages and Applications (OOPSLA), 2016. TruffleRuby
C. Ding, B. Gernhardt, P. Li, and M. Hertz. Safe Parallel Programming in an Interpreted Language. In Proceedings of the First Workshop on the High Performance Scripting Languages, 2015. MRI
L. Lu, W. Ji, and M. L. Scott. Dynamic Enforcement of Determinism in a Parallel Scripting Language. In Proceedings of the 35th Conference on Programming Language Design and Implementation (PLDI), 2014. (source code) JRuby
R. Odaira, J. G. Castanos, and H. Tomari. Eliminating Global Interpreter Locks in Ruby through Hardware Transactional Memory. In Proceedings of the 19th Symposium on Principles and Practice of Parallel Programming (PPoPP), 2014. MRI
W. Ji, L. Lu, and M. L. Scott. TARDIS: Task-level Access Race Detection by Intersecting Sets. In Proceedings of the 4th Workshop on Determinism and Correctness in Parallel Programming (WoDet), 2013. JRuby
M. Van De Vanter, C. Seaton, M. Haupt, C. Humer, and T. Würthinger. Fast, Flexible, Polyglot Instrumentation Support for Debuggers and other Tools. In The Art, Science, and Engineering of Programming, Vol. 2, No. 3, 2018. TruffleRuby
C. Seaton, M. L. Van De Vanter, and M. Haupt. Debugging at Full Speed. In Proceedings of the 8th Workshop on Dynamic Languages and Applications (DYLA), 2014. (source code) TruffleRuby
M. Kazerounian, N. Vazou, A. Bourgerie, J. S. Foster, and E. Torlak. Refinement Types for Ruby. VMCAI, 2018.
B. M. Ren, and J. S. Foster. Just-in-Time Static Type Checking for Dynamic Languages. PLDI, 2016.
B. M. Ren, J. Toman, T. S. Strickland, and J. S. Foster. The Ruby Type Checker. In Proceedings of the 28th Symposium on Applied Computing (SAC), 2013.
J. An, A. Chaudhuri, J. S. Foster, and M. Hicks. Dynamic Inference of Static Types for Ruby. In Proceedings of the 38th ACM Symposium on Principles of Programming Languages (POPL), 2011.
M. J. Edgar. Static Analysis for Ruby in the Presence of Gradual Typing. Bachelor’s thesis, 2011.
M. Madsen, P. Sørensen, and K. Kristensen. Ecstatic - Type Inference for Ruby Using the Cartesian Product Algorithm. Master’s thesis, Aalborg University, 2007.
M. Furr, J. An, J. S. Foster, and M. Hicks. Static Typing for Ruby on Rails. In Proceedings of the 24th Annual ACM Symposium on Applied Computing, 2009.
M. Furr, J. An, and J. S. Foster. Work In Progress: an Empirical Study of Static Typing in Ruby. In Proceedings of the PLATEAU Workshop on Evaluation and Usability of Programming Languages and Tools, 2009.
M. Daly, V. Sazawal, and J. S. Foster. Profile-Guided Static Typing for Dynamic Scripting Languages. In Proceedings of the Conference on Object Oriented Programming Systems Languages and Applications, 2009.
J. An, A. Chaudhuri, and J. S. Foster. Static Type Inference for Ruby. In Proceedings of the 24th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Automated Software Engineering, 2009.
T. Poncelet, and L. Vigneron. The Phenomenal Gem - Putting Features as a Service on Rails. Master’s thesis, Université Catholique de Louvain, 2012.
S. Günther, and M. Fischer. Metaprogramming in Ruby - A Pattern Catalog. In Proceedings of the 17th Conference on Pattern Languages of Programs, 2010.
S. Günther, and T. Cleenewerck. Design Principles for Internal Domain-Specific Languages: A Pattern Catalog Illustrated by Ruby. In Proceedings of the 17th Conference on Pattern Languages of Programs, 2010.
R. Smith, R. Williamson, D. Ventura, and J. T. Prince. Rubabel: wrapping open Babel with Ruby. Journal of Cheminformatics, 5(1), 35, 2013.
N. Goto, P. Prins, M. Nakao, R. Bonnal, J. Aerts, and T. Katayama. Bioruby: bioinformatics software for the Ruby programming language. Bioinformatics, 26(20):2617–9, Oct 2010.
W. Rząsa. Predicting Performance in a PaaS Environment: a Case Study for a Web Application. In the Computer Science Journal, volume 18, number 1, 2017.
W. Rząsa, M. Jamro, and D. Rzonca: Improving Accuracy of a Network Model Basing on the Case Study of a Distributed System with a Mobile Application and an API. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Computer Networks, 2017.
W. Rząsa, and D. Rzońca. Event-Driven Approach to Modeling and Performance Estimation of a Distributed Control System. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Computer Networks, 2016.
W. Rząsa. Simulation-Based Analysis of a Platform as a Service Infrastructure Performance from a User Perspective. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Computer Networks, 2015.
J. S. Cuadrado, J. G. Molina, and M. M. Tortosa. RubyTL: A Practical, Extensible Transformation Language. Model Driven Architecture - Foundations and Applications, 4066, 2006.
A. Tapiador, D. Carrera, J. Salvachúa. Social Stream, a social network framework. Proceedings of International Conference on Future Generation Communication Technology (FGCT), 2012.
A. Tapiador A framework for building distributed social network websites. PhD thesis, 2013.