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Comment by mgurlitz | Hacker News Reader

It looks like Ruby is only needed for the file server. You could easily substitute a Python file server (cd .js; python -m SimpleHTTPServer 3131). You could use a remote Apache server for synchronizing your scripts. I agree that Ruby is a little overkill, but it is simple enough to run easily on a Mac, and it is extensible for hackers.

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If you use your own server make sure you set the Access-Control-Allow-Origin header:

https://github.com/defunkt/dotjs/blob/master/bin/djsd#L26

(Also, Ruby comes with OS X (just like Python) so it seemed a sane choice.)

But Python comes with OSX and Ubuntu

But Ruby is the language the developer uses when doing something basic like this?

Python usually, as far as I can tell. Either language is fine, I just think these things should be done in something that comes pre-installed on more systems.

Feel free to fork the project and make it Python-based. defunkt works at Github and does most of his work in Ruby from what I can see.

I mean, I knew Chris years ago and his language of choice was Ruby, and I don't think it's changed.

Sure basic install-ability is great, but I bet you this tool was made to satiate an itch he had, and he used the tools he's used to. Little apps like these aren't engineered. Just hacks, for hacks sake.

Installing ruby on Ubuntu is easy. Most users of this kind of extension would probably know how.

Sounds like a relatively easy way to replace dependence on Ruby would be to just load the scripts directly from one's GitHub repo, where all your scripts can be easily synchronized.

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