RE: [ANNOUNCE] Lua 3.0 -- an extensible extension language

[Bret Mogilefsky <mogul@...>]

Are diffs from v2.5 to v3.0 available?

Bret
--
"Why, that's the second biggest monkey head I've ever seen!" --Guybrush
"LeChuck's dead. I blew him into a million gooey pieces."    --Guybrush
Bret Mogilefsky   **   mogul@lucasarts.com   **   Programmer, LucasArts


>----------
>From: 	lhf@tecgraf.puc-rio.br[SMTP:lhf@tecgraf.puc-rio.br]
>Sent: 	Tuesday, July 01, 1997 8:17 AM
>To: 	Bret Mogilefsky
>Subject: 	[ANNOUNCE] Lua 3.0 -- an extensible extension language
>
>* 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
>--
>
>