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I hope this doesn't trigger a long, off-topic thread about the cons and pros of iOS, but I think there is enough Lua-related value that a little more detail would be of interest:


1. Lua is now (and has been for a while) officially allowed in iOS applications. Along, of course, with a number of other languages.

2.  As has been stated, it is not allowed for an app to download new code.

3. It is, apparently, allowed to have apps where a user enters new code -- as long as she cannot then share it with others :(

I say "apparently" because the developer's agreement doesn't explicitly address this. But as Alex mentioned, there are a couple of apps that expose Scheme REPLs. There is also this Coders app -- which begat this thread. Not to mention, iLuaBox is alive and well and has been in the app store for (I think) almost a year.

Oh, and I should mention, that there is an app to create and run your own Turing Machines (search for "Turing Machine Simulator"). I'm guessing no app approver ever took a theory of computation class :(


4. As Jim mentioned, you cannot "do level definitions in Lua and then store them on a website so they are dynamically downloaded and executed", although you can have level definitions in Lua that come bundled with the app. It's probably ok even to have them disabled and require the user to purchase them via "In-App Purchasing".

Of course, like lawyers and the law, we can debate all we want, but we can't be sure until there's a ruling...

5. Corona and Wax (2 frameworks for building iOS apps in Lua) are both alive and well! Not to mention, quite a number of apps that take a more ad hoc approach to including Lua.


Matt

P.S. Now at the risk of ruining the good intentions I stated in the first paragraph, I cannot resist mentioning that Briefs (http://giveabrief.com/, https://github.com/capttaco/Briefs) never managed to get approved for the App store despite (allegedly) high-level internal assistance!

To be clear, Briefs is in no way Lua, but it was rejected because "it uses a scripting language to alter the behavior of the app" Note that this "scripting language" is nothing more than a "dumb" config file (i.e. no variables, no control structures...). This rejection is particularly interesting in light of the approval of apps such as iMockups, Blueprint and AppCooker.