MRI
MRI (Matz's Ruby Interpreter) is the reference implementation of the Ruby programming language, developed by Yukihiro 'Matz' Matsumoto. It is a C-based interpreter that executes Ruby code, providing the standard runtime environment for Ruby applications. MRI is widely used for web development, scripting, and automation tasks, and it includes the core Ruby libraries and garbage collection.
Developers should learn and use MRI when working with Ruby, as it is the official and most stable interpreter, ensuring compatibility with the Ruby language specification. It is essential for building Ruby on Rails applications, developing scripts, or maintaining legacy Ruby codebases, particularly in production environments where reliability is critical. MRI is also the baseline for testing Ruby code against other implementations like JRuby or Rubinius.