Comments on: “Programming in Lua” http://www.texdev.net/2009/03/23/programming-in-lua/ Coding in the TeX world Fri, 03 Feb 2012 20:29:59 +0000 hourly 1 By: Joseph Wright http://www.texdev.net/2009/03/23/programming-in-lua/#comment-359 Joseph Wright Tue, 24 Mar 2009 16:14:24 +0000 http://www.texdev.net/?p=240#comment-359 I'm not really in a position to judge the relative merits of different embedded scripting languages (as far as I can tell, there are supporters for every approach). However, Lua looks at least a good choice for TeX. I'm sure that there is something around on the web for learning Lua. I just wanted to start with something printed, and there only seem to be a couple of choices (PIL or "Beginning Lua Programming"). PIL seemed like a good place to start as it's "official". I guess that over time something more TeX orientated will appear (perhaps on CTAN, if we're lucky). "LuaTeX Programming for Beginners", anyone? I’m not really in a position to judge the relative merits of different embedded scripting languages (as far as I can tell, there are supporters for every approach). However, Lua looks at least a good choice for TeX.

I’m sure that there is something around on the web for learning Lua. I just wanted to start with something printed, and there only seem to be a couple of choices (PIL or “Beginning Lua Programming”). PIL seemed like a good place to start as it’s “official”. I guess that over time something more TeX orientated will appear (perhaps on CTAN, if we’re lucky). “LuaTeX Programming for Beginners”, anyone?

]]> By: karl http://www.texdev.net/2009/03/23/programming-in-lua/#comment-357 karl Tue, 24 Mar 2009 15:10:51 +0000 http://www.texdev.net/?p=240#comment-357 FWIW, I studied programming languages in school, designed my own (like so many others) that was never implemented (like so many others). I was/am completely impressed by Lua; it's the cleanest design I've ever seen. But I think the big win for TeX is that it was designed to be embedded; embedding Perl, Python, Ruby, whatever, would lead to endless trouble. With Lua, it is at least relatively straightforward. I wonder if there are any intro-to-lua books or web tutorials or whatever. You're surely right that PIL is not for beginners. We had Roberto come to TUG'07 and give a tutorial, but that doesn't much help now! FWIW, I studied programming languages in school, designed my own (like so many others) that was never implemented (like so many others). I was/am completely impressed by Lua; it’s the cleanest design I’ve ever seen. But I think the big win for TeX is that it was designed to be embedded; embedding Perl, Python, Ruby, whatever, would lead to endless trouble. With Lua, it is at least relatively straightforward.

I wonder if there are any intro-to-lua books or web tutorials or whatever. You’re surely right that PIL is not for beginners. We had Roberto come to TUG’07 and give a tutorial, but that doesn’t much help now!

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