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Technically yes, but it would likely only be possible with a restricted subset of the language. Python and Ruby have a large standard library and set of built-

by nilved 13y ago

Technically yes, but it would likely only be possible with a restricted subset of the language. Python and Ruby have a large standard library and set of built-in functions, because they're "batteries included" languages. Lua is quite the opposite: it doesn't even have access to the file system unless you implement that or use a module. So you'd either end up using a limited Python without features absent in Lua, or you'd need to bridge the gap in functionality with a very large runtime library. If you're looking for a more expressive syntax, check out MoonScript. It's an awesome language that you could consider Lua's CoffeeScript analogue.

tzs 13y ago
Aren't a large part of the Python and Ruby standard libraries written IN Python and Ruby, respectively? That should greatly reduce the amount of work.
deleted 13y ago
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kodablah 13y ago
Lua does have file system access: http://www.lua.org/manual/5.2/manual.html#6.8 http://www.lua.org/manual/5.2/manual.html#6.8
- spc476 13y ago
  In that it can open files. It does not, however, have a way to enumerate files in a given directory---that requires a module to handle.
  - kodablah 13y ago
    Ah, true. Penlight helps, but you are correct it is a separate module. I think for being the target of a higher-level language it might help that you aren't married to a standard library.
  - jekub 13y ago
    I fully agree with you but just want to add that you can do it in "pure" Lua : for file in io.popen("ls "..dir):lines() do ... end This should never be used in real applications and a proper filesystem module should be used instead. But, I find it very useful for quick one-shot scripts I write for batch processing some files.
silentbicycle 13y ago
Lua has access to the filesystem, but you probably want the luafilesystem module for general scripting, it provides more POSIX and Windows-specific functionality. As a general rule, the Lua standard library only includes what can be portably built on the C standard library. Instead of "batteries included", Lua is small and portable everywhere ("travel light"), and makes it easy to wrap other functionality via the C API. Sometimes that's a problem, but sometimes it's exactly what you want - say, when Python would be too big a dependency, Lua is an excellent option. (No experience with MoonScript. I'm content with Lua's syntax. I much prefer it to Ruby's, for example.)

by nilved 13y ago

tzs 13y ago

Aren't a large part of the Python and Ruby standard libraries written IN Python and Ruby, respectively? That should greatly reduce the amount of work.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

kodablah 13y ago

Lua does have file system access: http://www.lua.org/manual/5.2/manual.html#6.8 http://www.lua.org/manual/5.2/manual.html#6.8

spc476 13y ago
In that it can open files. It does not, however, have a way to enumerate files in a given directory---that requires a module to handle.
- kodablah 13y ago
  Ah, true. Penlight helps, but you are correct it is a separate module. I think for being the target of a higher-level language it might help that you aren't married to a standard library.
- jekub 13y ago
  I fully agree with you but just want to add that you can do it in "pure" Lua : for file in io.popen("ls "..dir):lines() do ... end This should never be used in real applications and a proper filesystem module should be used instead. But, I find it very useful for quick one-shot scripts I write for batch processing some files.

silentbicycle 13y ago

Lua has access to the filesystem, but you probably want the luafilesystem module for general scripting, it provides more POSIX and Windows-specific functionality. As a general rule, the Lua standard library only includes what can be portably built on the C standard library. Instead of "batteries included", Lua is small and portable everywhere ("travel light"), and makes it easy to wrap other functionality via the C API. Sometimes that's a problem, but sometimes it's exactly what you want - say, when Python would be too big a dependency, Lua is an excellent option. (No experience with MoonScript. I'm content with Lua's syntax. I much prefer it to Ruby's, for example.)