Re: Best framework to LUA developing in Tablets? Is it possible?

[Javier Guerra Giraldez <javier@...>]

On Tue, Jun 26, 2012 at 4:55 PM, Michal Kottman <k0mpjut0r@gmail.com> wrote:
>> any GUI library is developed against a given graphic platform; android
>> and iOS are really different from win32 and Xlib.  'compiling' would
>> in fact mean 'porting' to a new platform.
>
> Well, you can run Qt on Android [1], you can run Lua on Android, and
> you can use Qt from Lua [2]. I'm not saying it will work, but in
> theory, if someone has a lot of free time.... :)

Qt, but not IUP

Qt is a _very_ well designed platform, with a long history on embedded
devices.  It has a non-windowing 'flavor' that predates smartphones by
many years.  it even runs on NaCL inside Chrome!

>> on top of that, you really don't want a windowing GUI on a touch-based
>> device.  these are very different beasts.
>
> Well, you can use Qt [1] and Mono [3] on Android, both of which are
> primarily a "windowing GUI" framweworks. Qt is used a lot on embedded
> devices (owned by Nokia).

I wouldn't call Qt a 'windowing GUI'.  QtCreator still has a symbian
target with a full cross-compiler.  I don't know how well it handles
touch events (which are not usual mouse events), but i know QtDesigner
behaves differently on such targets.

haven't checked mono what parts of mono run on smartphones and what
not; but i do know that monotouch and monodroid are separate
non-compatible efforts.  both are targetable by monodevelop, but it's
not a crossplatform environment.  you can't run windows apps there.


returning to your original question, it seems right now the best
options to use Lua as a cross-device platform are Corona and Gideros.
the first seem more mature, the latter less expensive (especially if
you want to add native plugins)

I'm just (re)checking the "Scripting Layer for Android (SL4A)", which
seems much more complete; but they simply expose most of the android
APIs to scripting languages, again it doesn't help with iOS.


-- 
Javier