My RuPy Brno 2012 conf talk about using the right tool for the right job.
On the examples of building blocks of http://ascii.io/ I show when to consider using other, well established technologies, getting out of the "Ruby tunnel vision".
session DESCRIPTION script makes a typescript of everything printed on your terminal. It is useful for students who need a hardcopy record of an interactive session as proof of an assignment, as the typescript file can be printed out later with lpr(1).
timing information DESCRIPTION This program replays a typescript, using timing information to ensure that output happens at the same speed as it originally appeared when the script was recorded.
share the recordings with your fellow geeks. Simply record and upload your terminal session with single command, and ASCII.IO will play it back in your browser."
app it forks and execs shell in child process it gets file descriptors for spawned process' STDIN and STDOUT it proxies STDIN and STDOUT and saves STDOUT to a file
terminals to be created, accessed, and controlled from a single screen. tmux may be detached from a screen and continue running in the background, then later reattached."