Convert from Ruby to another build system.

I still prefer using Ruby as a build system -- I do have several peeves with Rhino. For one, a Rhino build script wouldn't really cross-platform. JavaScriptMVC has two scripts inside it: a shell script for OS X/*NIX and a batch file for Windows. JSMVC's code also looks like it's geared more toward building an actual app (something like what Rails would do), as opposed to just a single composite file. Also, if we want to make Fuse modular (so the user can do something like build include=Core,NWMatcher,Enumerable from the command line), dependency management would be a must. I haven't seen many libraries for Rhino (much less ones that are built for the aforementioned tasks), so I think we'd need to write our own library for that.

I did, though, have a pretty pleasant experience writing Miniatures' build system -- it's a very simplified example of how Ruby can be used to build a customized JavaScript library while including all necessary dependencies. Basically, I have a small YAML file where I define the modules and their dependencies. Then, in my Rakefile, I use Ruby's built-in YAML parser to load the YAML file into a Ruby hash. If the user specifies an include argument (i.e., rake build include=DOMReady,NWMatcher), the build task loads the modules and their dependencies, and stores their paths in an array. If the user doesn't specify which modules to include, all of the modules are added. Then, I add the header file to the beginning of the array, and pass that array as an argument to Sprockets, which builds the final distribution file.

I hope this doesn't appear trollish...I definitely think, though, that Ruby would be the way to go for building a JS library. MooTools, Prototype, and SproutCore already do this, so the build process would be fairly familiar to users of those libraries. Also, Ruby does have quite a few libraries for building JS frameworks already (like Ruby-YUI Compressor, Sprockets, and PackR), so we'd be saving ourselves quite a lot of time by not having to write our own build library for Rhino.

Again, all this is my opinion and stems from personal experience more than anything, so I guess I'm not being very objective. I'll go ahead and read up more on the ins and outs of the Rhino environment, though, and how it can be used for a build system.

See https://github.com/jdalton/fusejs/pull/5.

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