RE: Unique directions for Lua?

[Philippe Lhoste <PhiLho@...>]

> >And when I use the word embedded, I'm talking about embedded 
> >systems-- not just embedding Lua into a larger application. 
> >And that's a world that I think a lot of people don't really appreciate.
> 
> I think I can appreciate it: I used to design industrial applications with
> a KIM-1, i.e. an 8-bit 6502 and (in the beginning) 1 KB of RAM, using a
> pencil-and paper assembler :-)

Hey, I learned programming this way! Well, after toying with TI-57/58/59...

> Lua, in a sense, has a problem: it is too good and versatile, so different
> people would like it to evolve in different directions: a scripting
> language, a general-purpose full-fledged language, a specialized embedded
> language, and so on (BTW, I plan to use it on all these fronts).
> 
> My 0.05 Euro: Lua should stay exactly as it is: essential, elegant,
compact
> and flexible. There is no point in having it become just like another
> existing language.

I may dream, but I think Lua can still meet these requirements while
becoming even more versatile. We probably just have to add a little stuff in the
core, that can be compiled away if needed, as Roberto indicated, and some
external, probably third party libraries.
These improvements shouldn't go in the way of embedded/tiny systems. You
have the sources, you have a number of pre-processor directives to tailor the
code without fuss, and ultimately, you can hack the source. Although I agree it
is a last resort solution, as it can alter the language (to the point it is
no longer Lua, syntaxically speaking) and it is hard to keep with the new
versions.

BTW, I don't want Lua to become like another language. I like it the way it
is, even if it can stand some (minor?) improvements :-) I don't want another
Python (or Perl, etc.), indeed, weighting megabytes just to run a little
script.

Regards.

-- 
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Philippe Lhoste (Paris -- France)
Professional programmer and amateur artist
http://jove.prohosting.com/~philho/

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