 |
lua-l archive |
|
|
||
|
On 07/13/2013 03:06 PM, Wolfgang Schenke wrote:
So once again a minor Lua version change makes a. existing code unrunnable - and b. new code unrunnable on old Lua versions? What are you doing to this language?
While (a) taken alone might be understandable [and 5.3-work1 does a reasonable job of avoiding it], taken together I don't understand your objection. If a new version satisfies both of these conditions, what changes are possible (other than bug-fixes or transparent performance enhancements, i.e. changes internal to the implementation -- I think these are the domain of the "third digit" releases)? Am I missing something? Even adding a single new call to a library means that new code very likely can't be guaranteed to run on old versions (unless care is taken to be sure that it works with old versions, which can also be done with the changes in e.g. 5.2 or 5.3-work1).
It seems to me that at that point, the language is in its final form and there will be no further versions. If that is your goal, can't you just choose a version and continue to run it forever? It's not like some closed-source compiler where old versions are "unsupported" and can no longer be used because your new hardware doesn't have a floppy drive for the copy-protected installation media. Why adopt new versions if one wants the identical language?
-- David