diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 8942e7f..ac26b82 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
 storm/lib/
 storm/classes/
+tmp/
diff --git a/Rakefile b/Rakefile
index b428064..49e6635 100644
--- a/Rakefile
+++ b/Rakefile
@@ -37,28 +37,15 @@ end
 
 task :build => :setup do
   # first compile the JRuby proxy classes, required by the Java bindings
-  build_jruby("#{JRUBY_SRC_DIR}")
+  build_jruby("#{JRUBY_SRC_DIR}/proxy")
 
   # compile the Storm Java->JRuby bindings
   build_java("#{JAVA_SRC_DIR}/backtype/storm/jruby")
 
-  # compile the Ruby examples
-  build_jruby("#{EXAMPLES_SRC_DIR}")
-
-  # compile the Ruby user-created topologies
-  unless Dir["#{TOPOLOGIES_SRC_DIR}/*"].empty?
-    build_jruby("#{TOPOLOGIES_SRC_DIR}")
-  end
+  # first compile the JRuby proxy classes, required by the Java bindings
+  build_jruby("#{JRUBY_SRC_DIR}/topology_launcher.rb")
 end  
 
-task :storm do
-  unless ENV['class']
-    puts("usage: rake storm class={fully qualified java class name}")
-    exit(1)
-  end
-  system("java -cp \"./#{CLASSES_DIR}:./#{RUNTIME_LIB_DIR}/*:./#{DEV_LIB_DIR}/*:#{JRUBY_JAR}\" #{ENV['class']}")
-end
-
 def build_java(source_folder)
   puts("\n--> Building Java:")
   ant.javac(
diff --git a/bin/redstorm b/bin/redstorm
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..8346de8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/redstorm
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+JRUBY_JAR="${HOME}/.rvm/rubies/jruby-1.6.5/lib/jruby-complete.jar"
+STORM_DIR="./storm"
+RUNTIME_LIB_DIR="${STORM_DIR}/lib" 
+DEV_LIB_DIR="${STORM_DIR}/lib/dev" 
+CLASSES_DIR="${STORM_DIR}/classes"  
+
+java -cp "./${CLASSES_DIR}:./${RUNTIME_LIB_DIR}/*:./${DEV_LIB_DIR}/*:${JRUBY_JAR}" TopologyLauncher $@
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/examples/ruby_exclamation_bolt.rb b/examples/ruby_exclamation_bolt.rb
index 1c483a9..72d1071 100644
--- a/examples/ruby_exclamation_bolt.rb
+++ b/examples/ruby_exclamation_bolt.rb
@@ -1,6 +1,4 @@
-
 class RubyExclamationBolt
-
   def prepare(conf, context, collector)
     @collector = collector
   end
@@ -13,5 +11,4 @@ class RubyExclamationBolt
   def declare_output_fields(declarer)
     declarer.declare(Fields.new("word"))
   end
-
 end
diff --git a/examples/ruby_exclamation_topology.rb b/examples/ruby_exclamation_topology.rb
index 102e5dd..3e665bc 100644
--- a/examples/ruby_exclamation_topology.rb
+++ b/examples/ruby_exclamation_topology.rb
@@ -1,27 +1,8 @@
-require 'java'
-
-java_import 'backtype.storm.Config'
-java_import 'backtype.storm.LocalCluster'
-java_import 'backtype.storm.task.OutputCollector'
-java_import 'backtype.storm.task.TopologyContext'
 java_import 'backtype.storm.testing.TestWordSpout'
-java_import 'backtype.storm.topology.IRichBolt'
-java_import 'backtype.storm.topology.OutputFieldsDeclarer'
-java_import 'backtype.storm.topology.TopologyBuilder'
-java_import 'backtype.storm.tuple.Fields'
-java_import 'backtype.storm.tuple.Tuple'
-java_import 'backtype.storm.tuple.Values'
-java_import 'backtype.storm.utils.Utils'
-java_import 'java.util.Map'
-
-java_import 'backtype.storm.jruby.JRubyBolt'
-
 require 'examples/ruby_exclamation_bolt'
 
 class RubyExclamationTopology
-
-  java_signature 'void main(String[])'
-  def self.main(args)
+  def start
     builder = TopologyBuilder.new
     
     builder.setSpout(1, TestWordSpout.new, 10)     
@@ -37,5 +18,4 @@ class RubyExclamationTopology
     cluster.killTopology("test")
     cluster.shutdown
   end
-
 end
diff --git a/examples/ruby_exclamation_topology2.rb b/examples/ruby_exclamation_topology2.rb
index ec79bd8..5a87d1e 100644
--- a/examples/ruby_exclamation_topology2.rb
+++ b/examples/ruby_exclamation_topology2.rb
@@ -1,23 +1,6 @@
-require 'java'
-
-java_import 'backtype.storm.Config'
-java_import 'backtype.storm.LocalCluster'
-java_import 'backtype.storm.task.OutputCollector'
-java_import 'backtype.storm.task.TopologyContext'
 java_import 'backtype.storm.testing.TestWordSpout'
-java_import 'backtype.storm.topology.IRichBolt'
-java_import 'backtype.storm.topology.OutputFieldsDeclarer'
-java_import 'backtype.storm.topology.TopologyBuilder'
-java_import 'backtype.storm.tuple.Fields'
-java_import 'backtype.storm.tuple.Tuple'
-java_import 'backtype.storm.tuple.Values'
-java_import 'backtype.storm.utils.Utils'
-java_import 'java.util.Map'
-
-java_import 'backtype.storm.jruby.JRubyBolt'
 
 class RubyExclamationBolt2
-
   def prepare(conf, context, collector)
     @collector = collector
   end
@@ -30,13 +13,10 @@ class RubyExclamationBolt2
   def declare_output_fields(declarer)
     declarer.declare(Fields.new("word"))
   end
-
 end
 
 class RubyExclamationTopology2
-
-  java_signature 'void main(String[])'
-  def self.main(args)
+  def start
     builder = TopologyBuilder.new
     
     builder.setSpout(1, TestWordSpout.new, 10)     
@@ -52,5 +32,4 @@ class RubyExclamationTopology2
     cluster.killTopology("test")
     cluster.shutdown
   end
-
 end
diff --git a/examples/ruby_redis_word_count.rb b/examples/ruby_redis_word_count_topology.rb
similarity index 68%
rename from examples/ruby_redis_word_count.rb
rename to examples/ruby_redis_word_count_topology.rb
index 200ae50..689bf8a 100644
--- a/examples/ruby_redis_word_count.rb
+++ b/examples/ruby_redis_word_count_topology.rb
@@ -1,29 +1,9 @@
-require 'java'
-require 'rubygems'
 require 'redis'
 require 'thread'
 
-java_import 'backtype.storm.Config'
-java_import 'backtype.storm.LocalCluster'
-java_import 'backtype.storm.task.OutputCollector'
-java_import 'backtype.storm.task.TopologyContext'
-java_import 'backtype.storm.testing.TestWordSpout'
-java_import 'backtype.storm.topology.IRichBolt'
-java_import 'backtype.storm.topology.OutputFieldsDeclarer'
-java_import 'backtype.storm.topology.TopologyBuilder'
-java_import 'backtype.storm.tuple.Fields'
-java_import 'backtype.storm.tuple.Tuple'
-java_import 'backtype.storm.tuple.Values'
-java_import 'backtype.storm.utils.Utils'
-java_import 'java.util.Map'
-
-java_import 'backtype.storm.jruby.JRubyBolt'
-java_import 'backtype.storm.jruby.JRubySpout'
-
 # RubyRedisWordSpout reads the Redis queue "test" on localhost:6379 
 # and emits each word items pop'ed from the queue.
 class RubyRedisWordSpout
-
   def is_distributed
     false
   end
@@ -36,6 +16,7 @@ class RubyRedisWordSpout
   end
   
   def next_tuple
+    # per doc nextTuple should not block, and sleep a bit when there's no data to process.
     if @q.size > 0
       @collector.emit(Values.new(@q.pop))
     else
@@ -64,7 +45,6 @@ class RubyRedisWordSpout
 end
 
 class RubyRedisWordCount
-
   def initialize
     @counts = Hash.new{|h, k| h[k] = 0}
   end
@@ -85,9 +65,7 @@ class RubyRedisWordCount
 end
 
 class RubyRedisWordCountTopology
-
-  java_signature 'void main(String[])'
-  def self.main(args)
+  def start
     builder = TopologyBuilder.new
     builder.setSpout(1, JRubySpout.new("RubyRedisWordSpout"), 1)
     builder.setBolt(2, JRubyBolt.new("RubyRedisWordCount"), 3).fieldsGrouping(1, Fields.new("word"))
diff --git a/examples/ruby_word_count_topology.rb b/examples/ruby_word_count_topology.rb
index 4e486b8..c33ea0a 100644
--- a/examples/ruby_word_count_topology.rb
+++ b/examples/ruby_word_count_topology.rb
@@ -1,23 +1,3 @@
-require 'java'
-
-java_import 'backtype.storm.Config'
-java_import 'backtype.storm.LocalCluster'
-java_import 'backtype.storm.task.OutputCollector'
-java_import 'backtype.storm.task.TopologyContext'
-java_import 'backtype.storm.testing.TestWordSpout'
-java_import 'backtype.storm.topology.IRichBolt'
-java_import 'backtype.storm.topology.OutputFieldsDeclarer'
-java_import 'backtype.storm.topology.TopologyBuilder'
-java_import 'backtype.storm.tuple.Fields'
-java_import 'backtype.storm.tuple.Tuple'
-java_import 'backtype.storm.tuple.Values'
-java_import 'backtype.storm.utils.Utils'
-java_import 'java.util.Map'
-
-java_import 'backtype.storm.jruby.JRubyBolt'
-java_import 'backtype.storm.jruby.JRubySpout'
-
-
 class RubyRandomSentenceSpout
   def initialize
     @sentences = [
@@ -82,9 +62,7 @@ end
 
 
 class RubyWordCountTopology
-
-  java_signature 'void main(String[])'
-  def self.main(args)
+  def start
     builder = TopologyBuilder.new
     builder.setSpout(1, JRubySpout.new("RubyRandomSentenceSpout"), 5)
     builder.setBolt(2, JRubyBolt.new("RubySplitSentence"), 8).shuffleGrouping(1)
diff --git a/lib/red_storm/topology_launcher.rb b/lib/red_storm/topology_launcher.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2053c35
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/red_storm/topology_launcher.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+require 'java'
+require 'rubygems'
+
+java_import 'backtype.storm.Config'
+java_import 'backtype.storm.LocalCluster'
+java_import 'backtype.storm.topology.TopologyBuilder'
+java_import 'backtype.storm.tuple.Fields'
+java_import 'backtype.storm.tuple.Tuple'
+java_import 'backtype.storm.tuple.Values'
+
+java_import 'backtype.storm.jruby.JRubyBolt'
+java_import 'backtype.storm.jruby.JRubySpout'
+
+
+class TopologyLauncher
+
+  java_signature 'void main(String[])'
+  def self.main(args)
+    unless args.size > 0 
+      puts("usage: redstorm {ruby topology class file path}")
+      exit(1)
+    end
+    require args[0]
+    clazz = camel_case(args[0].split('/').last.split('.').first)
+    puts("redstorm launching #{clazz}")
+    Object.module_eval(clazz).new.start
+  end
+
+  private 
+
+  def self.camel_case(s)
+    s.to_s.gsub(/\/(.?)/) { "::#{$1.upcase}" }.gsub(/(?:^|_)(.)/) { $1.upcase }
+  end
+end
\ No newline at end of file