Ruby inventor Matz working on native compiler with AI help
Yukihiro Matsumoto, known as Matz, is developing Spinel, a native compiler for Ruby, with assistance from Anthropic's Claude. Spinel converts Ruby code into C code, significantly improving execution speed compared to traditional Ruby implementations. However, it has limitations, supporting only a subset of Ruby features and requiring developers to adapt their code for compatibility.
- ▪Spinel compiles Ruby code into C code, achieving approximately 11.6 times faster execution than MiniRuby.
- ▪The compiler is experimental and does not support many Ruby features, including eval statements and threads.
- ▪Matz presented Spinel at RubyKaigi 2026, highlighting its development with AI assistance over a few weeks.
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