[ANN] Lua Alchemy 0.2

[Alexander Gladysh <agladysh@...>]

We, Lua Alchemy development team, just released new version: 0.2.

        http://code.google.com/p/lua-alchemy/

You may view demo here:

        http://lua-alchemy.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/demo/index.html

Main feature of this release is syntax sugar. If in 0.1 you had to write

        as3.call(myvar, "someCall", param1, param2)

Now you may make calls naturally:

        myvar.someCall(param1, param2)

Code samples (included in demo) may be viewed here:

        http://github.com/lua-alchemy/lua-alchemy/tree/v0.2/demo/LuaAlchemyDemo/assets

Full list of changes:

1. Added Lua sugar for AS3 interface:
  http://code.google.com/p/lua-alchemy/wiki/LuaToAS3Sugar

2. New Lua as3 module functions:
2.1. Implemented in C:
  as3.isas3value(v) -- return true if argument is as3 value
  as3.toas3(v) -- converts argument to AS3 value

  See also: http://code.google.com/p/lua-alchemy/wiki/LuaToAS3LowLevel

2.2. Implemented in Lua:
  as3.onclose(fn) -- calls callback when state is closed
  as3.toobject(v) -- converts table to Object
  as3.toarray(v) -- converts table to Array
  as3.prints(...) -- print-like argument concatenation
  as3.makeprinter(obj) -- factory for functions to print on AS3 UI objects

  See also: http://code.google.com/p/lua-alchemy/wiki/LuaToAS3Extended

3. Changes in as3 Lua module functions:
  as3.tolua() is now variadic and passes through Lua values, also it
              now accepts nil and no arguments

  as3.type() now accepts nil and no arguments

  as3.yield() was renamed to as3.flyield() to avoid confusion with
coroutine.yield()

  as3.class() was renamed to as3.newclass() to give way to sugar's as3.class.

4. Changes in Lua core library functions:
  In Lua Alchemy some Lua core library function are overridden by default.
  (If you wish, you're free to disable this override).

  loadfile() and dofile() are changed to be able to load files,
embedded into current SWF.

  print() is changed to output to trace.

5. Changes in AS3 interface to Lua Alchemy:
  Lua as3 module functions no longer convert their arguments to Lua values.
  Use as3.tolua() explicitly if you need such conversion.

  lua_wrapper.setGlobal() doesn't do autoconversion to Lua type.
  Added lua_wrapper.setGlobalLuaValue() to do this.

  Added lua_wrapper.doFile() to run Lua file, added with Alchemy's
supplyFile().

  Added lua_wrapper.supplyFile() wrapper on Alchemy's supply file.

  Added utility to automatically embed and supply files in specified
directory on build.
  See new Rapid demo for example.

  Introduced LuaAlchemy class to be used instead of lua_wrapper
low-level interface.

  See also: http://code.google.com/p/lua-alchemy/wiki/As3ToLuaInterface

6. Demo changes:
  Added MiniDemo as a minimalistic Lua Alchemy example

  Added Rapid demo featuring auto asset adder -- as an example
  for rapid development setup with Lua Alchemy

  Removed demo help page in favor of using the wiki

7. Other changes:
  Building Lua with -O2, posix and ansi

  Setting _LUA_ALCHEMY Lua global variable with Lua Alchemy version

  Provided optional global environment protection (off by default)
  to aid with development in Lua.
  See http://code.google.com/p/lua-alchemy/wiki/LuaGlobalEnvironmentProtection

  A lot of internal implementation and tests refactoring and tuning

  Also updated documentation:
  http://code.google.com/p/lua-alchemy/wiki/