Re: Plans for version 5.0?

[Basile STARYNKEVITCH <basile@...>]

>>>>> "Roberto" == Roberto Ierusalimschy <roberto@inf.puc-rio.br> writes:

    >> Which are the "suspicious" points of 5.0a ?
    Roberto> * As lhf pointed out, there is the problem with garbage
    Roberto> collection of coroutines (see
    Roberto> http://lua-users.org/lists/lua-l/2002-09/msg00252.html).
    Roberto> Maybe we will have to create a new type in Lua,
    Roberto> "threads". This in turn may change the way threads are
    Roberto> created and managed. (This should only affect programs
    Roberto> that use coroutines and/or multi-threading.)

Perhaps Lua 5 might need string buffers (growable buffer of
characters), so that string manipulation becomes more efficient. I
read somewhere (but forgot the URL) that Lua performs very well (w.r.t
other scripting languages) except for string manipulation. But I may
be wrong!

More generally, I think that adding more builtin types is ok, as long
as the existing API is not broken.

    Roberto> * We are considering the option of each C function having
    Roberto> its own "global" table (like Lua functions already
    Roberto> have). Again, this could change only the way C libraries
    Roberto> are loaded in programs that already use the new facility
    Roberto> of multiple global tables.

    Roberto> * We may change some names in lauxlib.h (but there will
    Roberto> be `#defines' to keep compatibility). We are considering
    Roberto> the elimination of underscores in those names, to follow
    Roberto> the pattern in lua.h.


    Roberto> That's all. We are trying to release a beta version only
    Roberto> after finished all planned changes, and to change from
    Roberto> beta to final only in case of real bugs. That includes
    Roberto> the documentation too, so we are planning to release beta
    Roberto> only with a "complete" manual.

Great.

For what it is worth, the C-- compiler (coded in Ocaml) contains a Lua
interpreter (coded in Ocaml). See www.cminusminus.org for C-- and
www.ocaml.org for Ocaml.

Regards.

-- 

Basile STARYNKEVITCH         http://starynkevitch.net/Basile/ 
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