bridge-cli VS crystal

The Crunchy Bridge CLI is written in crystal: https://github.com/CrunchyData/bridge-cli/. The program that monitors databases is likewise a crystal program.

My biggest grievance with Crystal is the lack of incremental compilation. I understand why it's difficult to achieve given the language model. I've been watching the Crystal Interpreter with interest, it would be pretty cool if it could speed up my `M-x crystal-spec-line` interactions, along with all the other usual benefits of an interpreter.

On the other hand, there's a lot to like about Crystal: it has a convenient yet powerful type system, good error messages, and generates high quality code in a straightforward manner.

27. Crystal - $77,104

I like the first code example on https://crystal-lang.org

    # A very basic HTTP server

Obviously as an interpreted language, it's never going to be as fast as something like C, Rust, or Go. Traditionally the ruby maintainers have not designed or optimized for pure speed, but that is changing, and the language is definitely faster these days compared to a decade ago.

If you like the ruby syntax/language but want the speed of a compiled language, it's also worth checking out Crystal[^1]. It's mostly ruby-like in syntax, style, and developer ergonomics.[^2] Although it's an entirely different language. Also a tiny community.

[1]: https://crystal-lang.org/

Crystal is a nice language that's not only simple to read and write but performs very well too. And the documentation is amazing as well.

Ruby is a super fun scripting language. I much prefer it to python when I need something with a little more "ooomph" than bash. It's just...nice...to write in. Ruby performance has come a long way in the last decade as well. There's libraries for pretty much everything.

My modern programming toolkit is basically golang + ruby + bash and I am never left wanting.

I do find Crystal (https://crystal-lang.org/) really interesting and am hoping it has its own "ruby on rails" moment that helps the language reach a tipping point in popularity. All the beauty of ruby with all of the speed of Go (and then some, it often compares favorably to languages like rust in benchmarks).