Re: Working around minimalistic lua ...

[Russell Haley <russ.haley@...>]

On Mon, Jun 19, 2017 at 3:53 PM, Italo Maia <italo.maia@gmail.com> wrote:
> Well, it seems Lua has a strong commitment with keeping its API simple,
> which is not a bad thing, of course. Languages like python, have a strong
> sales point with its "batteries included" policy, where most commonly used
> libraries are packed together with the interpreter.
>
> Maybe Lua could sap some of "batteries included" marketing power by
> endorsing rocks or libraries (or defining interfaces) as standard
> implementations of certain functionalities. Lua does not have native support
> for classes, per example, but it has many libraries which allows you to work
> with classes quite easely. The problem is that they are not always
> compatible with one each other.
>
> This particular (and common) problem could be solved with a advise in the
> lua page. Something like: "if you need classes, use this library" or "if
> you're building a classes library, make sure it is compatible with this
> pattern/interface".
>
> Opinions?

Hi Italo,

I love Lua. It's such an awesome little language. I often think "why
aren't more people using Lua?". But the truth I am discovering is Lua
is used all over the place. It's used to script games (Roblox,
GarysMod are the two I am most familiar with). It's used to dissect
Ethernet packets in Wireshark. I found out that OpenWRT uses Lua to
interface against all the various services it needs to expose. Lua is
EVERYWHERE! And it's used everywhere because it's fast, simple, and
does not have a bunch of "extra stuff" attached to the language.

I think the position that the Lua team has taken is the pragmatic one.
Take json parsers for example. Which parser does Lua officially
endorse? I like dkjson (a respected person suggested it and it's
worked out great). Others have other opinions for various reasons.

There has been some discussion about a "Lua Foundation" but I don't
think anyone can agree on what that would look like either. I had
suggested that LuaRocks authors have a page to endorse their favorite
projects, but in some ways that would just be petrol on the fire too.

The reason (some of us) are attracted to Lua is the build from scratch
mentality, that's why there are so many variations. And I don't think
that pattern is unsuccessful. Just look at GNU/Linux. While there are
some REALLY frustrating things about all the variations, the
variations are the reason GNU/Linux is a success. Just think, what if
someone said, "thall shalt use init V forever" or "There shall be no
other windowing system than X"?

There have been a few murmurings on the list since I've been here
about creating a new "with batteries" package (I think I even
suggested it once!) but I don't think anybody has the desire or time
to do such things. Where does it stop? What does "enough batteries"
look like?

Anyway, the source is there, it's easy to build and add things to Lua
so maybe that's a project you could initiate? You might even get some
interest from some on the list. Just remember though, that's another
Lua variant...

Cheers!
Russ

> --
> "A arrogância é a arma dos fracos."
>
> ===========================
> Me. Italo Moreira Campelo Maia
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