[ANNOUNCE] Lua 3.1 -- an extensible extension language

[lhf@... (Luiz Henrique de Figueiredo)]

* What is Lua?
  ------------
  Lua is a programming language originally designed for extending applications,
  but also frequently used as a general-purpose, stand-alone language.
  Lua combines simple procedural syntax (similar to Pascal) with powerful
  data description constructs based on associative arrays and extensible
  semantics. Lua is dynamically typed, interpreted from bytecodes, and has
  automatic memory management, making it ideal for configuration, scripting,
  and rapid prototyping.

  Lua is implemented as a small library of C functions, written in ANSI C,
  and compiles unmodified in all known platforms. The implementation goals
  are simplicity, efficiency, portability, and low embedding cost.

  Lua has been awarded the first prize (technological category) in the Second
  Compaq Award for Research and Development in Computer Science. This award
  is a joint venture of Compaq Computer in Brazil, the Brazilian Ministry of
  Science and Technology, and the Brazilian Academy of Sciences.

* New in version 3.1
  ------------------
  + NEW FEATURE: anonymous functions with closures (via "upvalues").
  + new syntax:
    - local variables in chunks.
    - better scope control with DO block END.
    - constructors can now be also written: { record-part; list-part }.
    - more general syntax for function calls and lvalues, e.g.:
      f(x).y=1
      o:f(x,y):g(z)
      f"string" is sugar for f("string")
  + strings may now contain arbitrary binary data (e.g., embedded zeros).
  + major code re-organization and clean-up; reduced module interdependecies.
  + no arbitrary limits on the total number of constants and globals.
  + support for multiple global contexts.
  + better syntax error messages.
  + new traversal functions "foreach" and "foreachvar".
  and more...

* Availability
  ------------
  Lua is freely available for both academic and commercial purposes and
  can be downloaded from the sites below. The current version is 3.1.

    Home page:	http://www.tecgraf.puc-rio.br/lua/
		http://csg.uwaterloo.ca/~lhf/lua/
    In Brazil:	ftp://ftp.tecgraf.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

* Contacting the authors
  -----------------------
  Lua has been developed by TeCGraf, the Computer Graphics Technology Group
  of PUC-Rio (the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil). 
  TeCGraf is a laboratory of the Department of Computer Science.
  Dozens of industrial products developed by TeCGraf use Lua.

  Send your comments, bug reports and anything else to lua@tecgraf.puc-rio.br.
  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 
--