[ANNOUNCE] Lua 3.0 -- an extensible extension language

[lhf (Luiz Henrique de Figueiredo)]

* 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
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