Crystal – A Ruby-esque programing language
Crystal Clear
© Lead Image © Lukas Gojda, 123RF.com
Crystal is an open source project that seeks to combine the best of two worlds: the simplicity of a language syntax similar to Ruby and the speed and capabilities of the LLVM platform.
In the fall of 2012, Argentinian Ary Borenszweig implemented his Crystal project [1] as a "programming language for people and computers." This sentence probably best expresses what this language sets out to combine: the simplicity and elegance of a Ruby-esque language syntax with the efficiency and speed benefits of compiled languages such as C.
The driving force behind the development of Crystal in recent years has been the Argentine software consulting company Manas [2], which is where Borenszweig works. As of this writing, some 100 volunteers are pushing forward with the project on GitHub [3]. You can look up all of the language's functions in a GitBook [4]. Newcomers can take their first steps without installing anything by entering code into a simple web-based Crystal editor and compiler [5].
Benchmark
The script in Figure 1 runs the Ruby code from Listing 1 as a simple benchmark. It includes a loop containing a multiplication. From the time measured at the start and end of the program, a simple subtraction gives you the execution time. Ruby 1.9.3 takes around six seconds, or around four seconds for JRuby. On the website [5], the same script takes only around 0.3 seconds (Figure 2).
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