What is EventMachine in Ruby and how do I use it?

What is EventMachine in Ruby and how do I use it?

EventMachine is a Ruby library for building event-driven I/O applications. It allows you to handle many connections simultaneously without blocking.

Can you give me a simple example of using EventMachine?

Sure! Here's a basic example:

require 'eventmachine'

EM.run do
  EM.start_server '0.0.0.0', 8080, MyServer
end

class MyServer < EM::Connection
  def receive_data(data)
    send_data "You sent: #{data}"
  end
end

This sets up a simple TCP server that echoes back any data it receives.

What are the advantages of using EventMachine?

EventMachine is lightweight and efficient, making it ideal for handling many connections. It also simplifies asynchronous programming in Ruby.

Are there any alternatives to EventMachine?

Yes, alternatives include Celluloid, Async, and the built-in Thread library in Ruby, each with its own use cases and benefits.