Re: How to add users libraries

[Keith Wiles <kwiles@...>]

Rici Lake wrote:
> On 1-Dec-05, at 12:28 PM, Keith Wiles wrote:
>
> > To make a long story short (which I have failed already :-) is Lua 
> > needs to be developer friendly in the areas of source code control 
> > and how they effect the content such as which libs are linked into 
> > the image. It would be better if Lua was able to be compiled as an 
> > archive and the developer could alter the behavior externally without 
> > editing the source code or having to copy files.
> Perhaps I don't understand your concern, but it seems to me that your 
> issue is only with the Lua standalone interpreter, which you are under 
> no obligation to use in any project. Indeed, it's pretty unlikely that 
> you would use it in an embedded platform (or at least I wouldn't) 
> because of its dependency on console I/O.
>
> Core Lua -- that is, the VM, compiler and standard libraries -- is 
> compiled as an archive, ready to be embedded into any project you desire.
I see two uses for Lua in an embedded device one is the VM,compiler, ... 
driving parts of the system without having to have console I/O. The 
other is using the standalone interpreter as a simple shell for 
debugging or running a Lua script to provide the user with a command 
line interface (CLI).

A lot of the embedded devices have a CLI for the user to adjust behavior 
or get status. I have used both methods in the same embedded device and 
found it to be very useful. During development I used the standalone 
interpreter to debug the system, allowing me to write simple one line 
scripts at the console or load a script from a remote disk over a 
network. Then switch over to the CLI script to see what the user will be 
using day to day. The CLI only protects the system from the user and 
provides a nice environment for the user.

I guess what I am asking for is for Lua to provide these hooks in the 
standard package and any other areas within Lua a developer may want to 
effect change (to a given point of course). I guess I could be making a 
big thing over nothing, but it does seem reasonable to me as it would be 
fairly simple to polish these areas for a cleaner package.

Thanks again for the input,
--Keith