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On 14/09/2011 5.11, Gerry Weaver wrote:
[...]



Okay. I don't mean to ruffle any feathers, but here's the thing. Lua is
very dependent on C/C++. Lua gets most of it's functionality from C/C++
libraries. I'm starting to get the impression that a few folks
think/wish they could somehow ignore C/C++ and exist in a world where
they don't have to know or care about C/C++ and building C/C++ code.
Unfortunately, in my opinion, Lua is so dependent on C/C++ for even the
most basic facilities, that it's really not possible.
Yes, I think you're substantially right, even if this is somewhat a pity. I started learning Lua a couple of years ago because it was embedded in my favourite editor (SciTE) and I had never heard anything about it at the time. Although I had been an active SW developer (Java mainly), I hadn't touched a line of serious C for ~15 years (actually I had used turbo C under DOS!), so it came to me as a bit of a surprise that to cope with some problems in Lua you had to resort to C. Well for me that was an opportunity to revamp my C skills, but that's another story.
Yes, if you read the manual and PiL you quickly understand the tight relationship between the two, but it is not immediately apparent that even for something basic you have to resort to C (e.g. recompling Lua to make its dll use the same CRT of a library or vice versa - on Windows I mean).
This comes as a surprise if your are on Windows and if you are used to other languages with "batteries included" (e.g. Java or Python). And it comes as particularly inconvenient for novices since Lua has almost no battery, although its facilities are quite powerful (in some cases I would say strikingly powerful, for such a tiny language!), but they require some understanding, so probably they are not suited for people with little programming experience [1].
As I said this is a pity IMHO, because when you get the hang of it, Lua is one of the most fun languages I ever programmed in (among which, at various expertise level, FORTRAN, C/C++, Forth, various BASIC dialects, assembly, Javascript, Python, Java, Pascal). And there are many non-programmers who may be "exposed" to Lua (because Lua is embedded in many places) who could be scared off by this "dependency" [1].
But in some way this is a "having a cake and eat it too" problem, since many of the benefits of Lua (and its intended design) stem from this tight relationship with C, as the cool guys on this list demonstrate every day. 

>I'm not

recommending that everyone run out and become an expert in C/C++
programming. However, having the ability to resolve simple compile/link
errors is going to enhance the Lua experience immeasurably. No one would
expect this to happen overnight. Give it a try and ask questions if you
run into problems. I hope y'all hang in there with Lua. It's an awesome
language. However, if you are violently opposed to the idea of learning
the basics of C/C++ and building C/C++ code, perhaps Lua is not the
right choice for you. I think Visual Basic or Java might be much better
options. Then again, I'm sure there are those who would vigorously
disagree with me.
The big problem is that C/C++ is *hard* (and probably harder on Windows). A newbie in programming (not only in Lua) would have a very hard time in getting right the basics of C by self education (which is one of the usual path of people approaching programming), unless he/she is very smart and/or determined. Let alone C++, which sometimes reminds me of a mouse with a gorilla on top!
Compile/link/run is not so an easy concept for absolute beginners, especially when you run into issues, such as C toolchain not finding a symbol. Even the terminology used in the error messages is hard! Therefore either a newbie is so lucky that he types "make" or "make install" and everything goes right, or he is left puzzling about what to do, besides crying for help.
Of course a developer (even one who haven't ever touched C in his life) shouldn't have such big problems, especially because this list is always very helpful.
Probably the real question should be why C/C++ programming should be so hard, but that's a question for another mailing list :-) 


Thanks,
-G


Cheers.
-- Lorenzo
[1] There was an interesting old thread about the suitability of Lua as a first programming language: 

http://lua-users.org/lists/lua-l/2009-09/msg00539.html