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    <p>I am the author of ruby-sdl-ffi. This question was brought to my attention today, so I am answering for the benefit of anyone who is still curious.</p> <p>The main difference is that ruby-sdl-ffi is pure Ruby code that accesses SDL (and related libraries) via FFI (foreign function interface), whereas rubysdl is an extension written in C that links to SDL (and related libraries). There are pros and cons to each approach. (Obviously, I feel that FFI is the better approach, or I would not have bothered to write ruby-sdl-ffi.)</p> <p>Both libraries offer similar feature sets, although there are some differences (noted below). They can both do 2D games with images, sounds/music, and user input from keyboard, mouse, and/or joystick/gamepad. They can also both be used with OpenGL (via ruby-opengl or ffi-opengl) to create hardware-accelerated 3D games. They can both be used on Windows, MacOS X, and Linux (and perhaps other platforms), although rubysdl only works on MacOS X if you use a special Ruby interpreter wrapper called "rsdl".</p> <p>I have not run any serious benchmarks, so I can't provide any definitive data about raw performance. My general impression is that rubysdl might have a slight performance advantage, but they are close enough that performance isn't the main factor when deciding between the two libraries.</p> <p>Here is how I would summarize the pros and cons of the two libraries:</p> <p><strong>ruby-sdl-ffi</strong></p> <ul> <li>Easier for users to install the gem. It does not need to be compiled, so users don't need to install a C compiler or toolchain.</li> <li>Works with MRI (the "usual" Ruby interpreter), JRuby, and probably Rubinius.</li> <li>No special interpreter is required on MacOS X. However, the MacOS X support may need to be updated to get it working totally right on the latest versions of MacOS X. (Apple keeps changing things.)</li> <li>Lower-level API, more closely mirrors the C libraries. This may be good or bad depending on your perspective.</li> <li>Currently has bindings for SDL, SDL_gfx, SDL_image, SDL_mixer, and SDL_ttf libraries. (Compared to rubysdl, it adds SDL_gfx but lacks SGE and SMPEG.) Adding bindings for other libraries is quite easy.</li> <li>Not actively developed or maintained anymore. I don't have the time or interest anymore, but someone is welcome to take over, and I can provide guidance.</li> <li>Somewhat experimental, and has some rough edges.</li> </ul> <p><strong>rubysdl</strong></p> <ul> <li>More mature and polished, has withstood the test of time.</li> <li>Better support for Japanese text input and rendering.</li> <li>Higher-level, more abstract API.</li> <li>Binds SDL, SGE, SMPEG, SDL_image, SDL_mixer, and SDL_ttf libraries.</li> <li>Requires users to have a C compiler to install the gem. This can be quite a headache on Windows and MacOS X.</li> <li>Requires MacOS X users to run your game using the special "rsdl" Ruby interpreter. Thus, to my knowledge, it will not work with JRuby or Rubinius on MacOS X.</li> <li>Does not seem to be actively developed or maintained anymore either.</li> </ul>
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    1. POrubysdl vs. ruby-sdl-ffi
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    1. USJohn Croisant
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    1. COHi John, Any thoughts on how SDL and your gem compare to using Gosu?
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      1. USAndrew
 

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