Re: Idea: Reference Libraries

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

On Tuesday, April 22, 2014, Dirk Laurie <dirk.laurie@gmail.com> wrote:
> 2014-04-22 13:57 GMT+02:00 Andrew Starks <andrew.starks@trms.com>:
> >
> > The most inportant part: it's just the current and future standard Lua
> > libraries. Nothing beyond that. The fight couldn't be about "what is
> > standard."
> >
> > If there would be any fighting, it would be about what must remain as core
> > Lua and what could be pulled out into a separate library bundle, (although
> > this too might already be defined).
> >
> > This separation would include what is now woven into the Lua Reference
> > Guide. The separate "Reference Libraries" would have their own reference
> > guide.[1]
>
>
> I have often felt the need for a different split, but that would not be a split
> into two parts, each with its own manual, but simply a different way of
> organizing the manual.
>
> The section dealing with the C API has a substantially different flavour from
> the rest, since programming in C is so different from programming in Lua.
> But it wedges in between the documentation of the language and that of
> the library. When I am in C mode, it matters little, since everything is
> contiguous. But when I am in Lua mode, I find myself frantically scrolling
> over the API documentation until I remember that the back-arrow will return
> me to the index from where it's one button.
>
> So I would have liked two major divisions: the script language, including its
> libraries, and the C API. But what the heck, I'm used to it.
>
> That does raise the question: what the heck, aren't we used to the io,math
> and os librariest too?
> ,

Probably. If I were reading this, id ask the same questions and probably not understand much more from my response. 

I think that's because I'm not suggesting a new capability or feature. I'm suggesting a different project and documentation structure in hopes of seeing desired emergent behavior in those that approach, learn and extend Lua. 

I've got nothing but love for the libraries. 

-Andrew