1999-07-06 01:28:28 +00:00
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Lua is a programming language originally designed for extending applications,
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but also frequently used as a general-purpose, stand-alone language. Lua
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combines simple procedural syntax (similar to Pascal) with powerful data
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description constructs based on associative arrays and extensible semantics.
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Lua is dynamically typed, interpreted from bytecodes, and has automatic memory
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management with garbage collection, making it ideal for configuration,
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scripting, and rapid prototyping.
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A fundamental concept in the design of Lua is to provide meta-mechanisms for
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implementing features, instead of providing a host of features directly in
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the language. For example, although Lua is not a pure object-oriented
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language, it does provide meta-mechanisms for implementing classes and
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inheritance. Lua's meta-mechanisms bring an economy of concepts and keep the
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language small, while allowing the semantics to be extended in unconventional
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ways. Extensible semantics is a distinguishing feature of Lua.
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Lua is implemented as a small library of C functions, written in ANSI C, and
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compiles unmodified in all known platforms. The implementation goals are
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simplicity, efficiency, portability, and low embedding cost.
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2001-05-14 00:13:15 +00:00
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WWW: http://www.lua.org/
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