Ruby CoffeeScript is a bridge to the official CoffeeScript compiler.
CoffeeScript.compile File.read("script.coffee")
gem install coffee-script
Note: This compiler library has replaced the original CoffeeScript compiler that was written in Ruby.
This library depends on the coffee-script-source
gem which is
updated any time a new version of CoffeeScript is released. (The
coffee-script-source
gem's version number is synced with each
official CoffeeScript release.) This way you can build against
different versions of CoffeeScript by requiring the correct version of
the coffee-script-source
gem.
In addition, you can use this library with unreleased versions of
CoffeeScript by setting the COFFEESCRIPT_SOURCE_PATH
environment
variable:
export COFFEESCRIPT_SOURCE_PATH=/path/to/coffee-script/extras/coffee-script.js
The json
library is also required but is not explicitly stated as a
gem dependency. If you're on Ruby 1.8 you'll need to install the
json
or json_pure
gem. On Ruby 1.9, json
is included in the
standard library.
The coffee-script
library will automatically choose the best
JavaScript engine for your platform. The currently implemented engines
are:
-
Node.js. If the
node
binary is available in$PATH
, it will be used to invoke the CoffeeScript compiler. -
JavaScript Core. If you're on OS X and don't have Node.js installed, the library will fall back to the built-in JavaScript Core binary,
jsc
. This way you don't need to install any additional dependencies. -
V8. Shelling out to Node.js may be too slow for your production environment. In this case, install
therubyracer
gem, which provides a fast bridge between Ruby and V8.