Re: First impressions and errata

[Andrew Starks <andrew.starks@...>]

On Sunday, February 23, 2014, Enrico Colombini <erix@erix.it> wrote:
> On 23/02/2014 15.52, Philipp Janda wrote:
> > I would also prefer a Lua-like syntax, and I suggest the following
> > modifications to the original proposal:
> >
> > *   Count the sequence elements via `ipairs()`, but only display N of
> > them in case there are more than that (maybe some from the sequence end,
> > the rest starting at index 1)
> > *   Then print at most N values using `pairs()` but skip integer keys
> > between 1 and the sequence end determined above.
> > *   Write out a marker (e.g. `...`) unless you display all elements.
> > *   Make N a global variable so that you can change the number of
> > displayed elements in case the default is not good enough.
> > *   Abbreviate long keys/values, escape non-printable characters ;-).
> > *   Try to fit multiple key-value pairs on a single line, but wrap
> > around at say 80 characters.
> > *   Respect `__tostring`, but indicate original type.
>
> More than reasonable (even if it goes against reparseable output); I certainly wouldn't want to print a 1M-element list to the console.
>
> Of course a list printer (which is, after all, just a minor convenience) would make the interpreter a lot more complex and will never satisfy everybody. Apologies for uncovering a Pandora vase ;-)
>
> -- 
>   Enrico

No vase opened!  I assumed you were speaking to a module or alternate interpreter. 

The lack of a built in pretty printer is an excellent opportunity to learn a bit of lua and it's absence is an effective lesson, in and if itself. :)