Re: Lua for GUI toolkit wrapping?

[<mdeaver@...>]

---- Mauro Iazzi <mauro.iazzi@gmail.com> wrote: 
> 2009/9/23 Patrick <spell_gooder_now@spellingbeewinnars.org>:
> > Why would anyone want to code a GUI in C/C++ if they had something like Lua?
> 
> several reasons:
>  - they know C/C++ and not Lua
>  - the native language of the toolkit is C/C++ so the API may fit better
>  - the bindings are usually supported by a third party, so there are
> likely more bugs, moreover, they come after the toolkit becomes
> widespread and are usually less mature
>  - it adds dependencies to the application
>  - since less people uses it there are less docs/tutorials/examples around
>  - they may simply like C/C++ more than Lua :)
> 
And another reason:  Our GUI application contains 100,000+ lines of non-comment/non-blank C++ code, with about 140 or so screens, and its own built-in GUI widget editor for construction of custom screens.

I'd be worried about writing an application that large in a dynamic language.  That said, we have incorporated Lua selectively within the app; e.g., custom screens built with our widget editor are saved as Lua tables.

Mason Deaver