Re: Interest in Lua Web Plug-in?

[Don Hopkins <dhopkins@...>]

I think a Lua web plug-in is a wonderful idea whose time has come, as long as it's open source, and done right!
(And it would be quite nice if it had a good 3d graphics module, too.)

Making it open source is crucial.
It's impossible trying to get people to buy into a commercial browser plug-in (although Flash is the exception that proves the rule).

I think tight browser integration is the key -- if you can integrate it tightly and deeply with _javascript_ and the DOM, then it will be quite useful.
But if it's just off in its own little world sealed off from the rest of the web browser, then we have a problem, Houston.

You would probably have to take the ActiveX/OLE route to integrate it with Internet Explorer, using the IScriptingEngine interface and its ilk.
That would require supporting OLE Automation in a big way, but fortunately there is already a Lua module that does that.

It's a different story on Firefox, though.
Take a look at the LiveConnect stuff that was designed to integrate Java with _javascript_ and the DOM.
Also take a look at XPCOM and the latest interfaces available that support scripting engine integration.
That might help get you integrated.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LiveConnect
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xpcom

Here is some stuff I wrote about the OLPC's Sugar user interface, describing various scripting languages, integration technologies, and gui platforms, and mentioning some stuff about how Lua could benefit the One Laptop per Child project, because it's so fast and memory efficient!

http://mailman.laptop.org/pipermail/sugar/2006-December/001022.html

    -Don


Vijay Aswadhati wrote:

On Thursday, March 01, 2007 5:01 PM, therandthem wrote:

  

Is there is any interest in a web browser plug-in for Lua?  This would be
an open source competitor to both the Flash plug-in and native _javascript_
support.  As a _javascript_ replacement, the plug-in would support simple
interaction with the browser's DOM through the Lua language.  As an
alternative to Flash, a vector Library like AGG, a 3D library like
Irrlicht, and an audio library (which?)  would be embedded.     
    

I understand doing things for the love of Lua; it still begs the question why?
There used to be a commercial plug-in called Yindo which I think hoped to be a
Flash killer; now it is history and even the domain name itself seems to have
been sold out. On the flip side however maybe Yindo died because it was not
open source. Sorry about the smell of pessimism - it comes from my own failures
in bootstrapping ambitious open source projects.  Those failures however never
stopped me from trying - harder.

Good luck and yes I would be interested.

Cheers,
Vijay Aswadhati