[ANNOUNCE] Lua 3.0 -- an extensible extension language
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- Subject: [ANNOUNCE] Lua 3.0 -- an extensible extension language
- From: lhf (Luiz Henrique de Figueiredo)
- Date: Tue, 1 Jul 1997 11:58:37 -0300
* What is Lua?
Lua is a simple, yet powerful, language for extending applications.
Lua has been developed by TeCGraf, the Computer Graphics Technology Group
of PUC-Rio, the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Dozens of industrial products developed by TeCGraf use Lua.
* Some features of Lua
+ simple syntax (Pascal-like);
+ powerful data description constructs (e.g., associative arrays);
+ user-controlled type constructors;
+ extensible semantics with tag methods;
+ garbage collection;
+ Lua programs are compiled into bytecodes, which are then interpreted;
+ truly portable, written in ANSI C.
* Availability
The latest version of Lua is always available at the following locations:
In Brazil: ftp://ftp.icad.puc-rio.br/pub/lua/lua.tar.gz
In Canada: ftp://csg.uwaterloo.ca/pub/lhf/lua/lua.tar.gz
In Germany: ftp://ftp.uni-trier.de/pub/languages/lua/lua.tar.gz
In Greece: ftp://ftp.ntua.gr/pub/lang/lua/lua.tar.gz
Home page: http://www.tecgraf.puc-rio.br/lua/
Meta page: http://www.tecgraf.puc-rio.br/lua/meta.html
The current version is 3.0
* Changes since version 2.5 (no versions between 2.5 and 3.0)
+ NEW CONCEPT: "tag methods".
Tag methods replace fallbacks as the meta-mechanism for extending the
semantics of Lua. Whereas fallbacks had a global nature, tag methods
work on objects having the same tag (e.g., groups of tables).
Existing code that uses fallbacks should work without change.
+ new, general syntax for constructors {[exp] = exp, ... }.
+ support for handling variable number of arguments in functions (varargs).
+ support for conditional compilation ($if ... $else ... $end).
+ cleaner semantics in API simplifies host code.
+ better support for writing libraries (auxlib.h).
+ better type checking and error messages in the standard library.
+ luac can now also undump.
* Legal matters
Lua is freely available for both academic and commercial purposes.
* Contacting the authors
Send your comments, bug reports and anything else to lua@tecgraf.puc-rio.br.
Please send us email if you download Lua so that we can know how far it goes.
For reporting bugs, try also the mailing list: lua-l@tecgraf.puc-rio.br
--
Luiz Henrique de Figueiredo email: lhf@tecgraf.puc-rio.br
TeCGraf-Grupo de Tecnologia em Computacao Grafica, Dep. Informatica, PUC-Rio
Rua Marques de Sao Vicente 225 voice: +55 21 529-9424
22453-900 Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil fax: +55 21 294-8195
--