JobQueue
job_queue allows you to use lots of message queues with exactly the same interface so you don't need to worry about which queue to pick :)
This should get you started:
require 'rubygems'
require 'job_queue'
Before you can do anything you must specify an adapter to use
JobQueue.adapter = JobQueue::BeanstalkAdapter.new
Jobs can then be simply added to the queue
JobQueue.put("flubble bubble")
In your workers you'll want to subscribe to a queue
JobQueue.subscribe do |job|
puts job
end
This subscribe block takes care of waiting for the next job to arrive and the block is passed exactly what you passed in. If you want to exit the loop just throw :stop.
JobQueue.subscribe do |job|
# Wait - I changed my mind!
throw :stop
end
What should you put on the queue
You might love Ruby right now, but why lock yourself in? Often the kinds of things you use queues for are the kind of things you'll want to optimize. This is a good place to start:
JSON.generate({:some => "hash"})
JSON.parse(job)
Can you show me a nice processing daemon?
Yes. Just a minute...
Adapters
Take your pick! Right now we have:
Beanstalk
http://xph.us/software/beanstalkd/
AMQP
You need to run all your code within an eventmachine loop to use AMQP.