Re: Any documentation on Lua's bytecode instruction set or VM?

[Rob Kendrick <lua-l@...>]

On Tue, 2003-12-16 at 23:49, Joe Wilson wrote:
> I'm thinking about writing a Javascript-like front end 
> for the Lua VM.  Is there a definitive guide to Lua's
> bytecode instruction set, or is this a case of 
> "Use The Source, Luke"?

The usual answer to this is that Lua's VM is not a general purpose one,
and is designed strictly for executing Lua, and writing compilers for
other languages is tricky at best.

> Also, is there any guarantee that the Lua VM instruction set
> will not change from Lua version 5 to version 6?

IME, absolutely none.  For example, Lua 5's VM is register based, and
Lua 4's isn't.

-- 
Rob Kendrick, Pepperfish Ltd.         +44 (0)845 226 4146  www.pepperfish.net
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