Re: Lua Observations/Questions

[Luiz Henrique de Figueiredo <lhf@...>]

>From lua-l@tecgraf.puc-rio.br Thu Jul  8 14:09:38 1999

>From: Norman Ramsey <nr@cs.virginia.edu>
>To my mind, the most significant defect of Lua (and there are very few
>such!) is that it's hard to add a new primitive type to the language.

Right, it's hard to add primitive types.
Actually, I think the only way to do it is to change the source.

(BTW, what are the other significant defects?)

>FYI, there are a bunch of excellent abstract data types, including
>lists, in Dave Hanson's book `C Interfaces and Implementations'.  I
>have bound some of these for use inside Lua.  The software is
>available free from http://www.cs.princeton.edu/software/cii.

That's a nice project -- that's precisely what Lua is designed for: extension.
Any volunteers?

>From: David Jeske <jeske@chat.net>

>It's not too hard to add custom "complex" data-types in my
>experience. Basic datatypes are a bit harder.

Right. The only real problem is how to define equality, as you pointed out,
However, I recall that Roberto replied to one post (yours?) about this.
The gist of the answer was that redefining equality would have consequences
for table indexing. Roberto's post should be available in lua-l-archive.
--lhf