Re: Lua, Python and Project UpLua

Fernando,

A key component of made Python so popular is the creation of PyPi, the Python package index. A 'cured', reliable source of libraries on all sorts of uses (device protocols, numerical tools, etc.), along with an accompanying installation tool like pip (in Linux), that is aceptable throughout the Lua community will go a long way in making Lua a lot more useful.

Another suggestion is to focus Lua on a particular application domain. One suggestion is IoT in, say, healthcare or renewable energy. Lua is a very resource efficient language that can fit well in current and upcoming embedded processors.

On Mon, Jan 20, 2020 at 1:00 PM Fernando Jefferson <fjefferson@inf.puc-rio.br> wrote:

Regarding old and recent posts here in this list about "Python vs Lua" and the like, I believe that one should not cry over spilled milk (I don't know if the _expression_ exists in English).

Lorenzo Donati wrote here: "I'm not saying Lua is obsolete because it is bad, but market forces have (almost) nothing to do with what is good or bad (sadly). If a product is badly marketed there is no hope it would be able to compete (especially on a large global scale)"

I totally agree with him. To recover the use of Lua, we must develop marketing activities, as Python creators did, including through the Python Foundation (python.org)

With that in mind, Project UpLua was created in 2019, whose goal is to boost the use of Lua, especially (but not only) in the areas of Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence (AIoT), still an extremely interesting niche for Lua.

The UpLua Project has already started through two activities. One of them is a course, where here people of different ages and areas of activity, including high school students, begin to learn how to program using Lua. The one minute video (subtitled in English) below shows some testimonials from students of the course's first class:
https://youtu.be/5rwyP9eNPWI.

This PDF in SlideShare presents more information about the project.

https://www.slideshare.net/FernandoJefferson/project-up-lua-200120

I would like to invite all to participate in this project, even if it is just to contribute with suggestions or even criticism.

Regards,

Fernando Jefferson

CCE-PUC-Rio - Professor
Project UpLua - Coordinator
Cel: +5521-99763-2135