Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew Schreiber
First off, I have little to no experience with Lua, we used it briefly in one of my game design courses but I didn't really have a use at the time.
From what I understand it's a small language whose core was written in C, what's the benefit of using it over other scripting languages like ruby, python, or even javascript? In my experience adoption of those languages has been far larger which would create a lower barrier to utilization of this feature.
Is it possible that Lua includes a flag to check syntax? I know Ruby does if you call ruby -c [filename].
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Most of the "small languages" are written in C. It's another scripting language like Ruby, Python and Javascript. Or the mother of all scripting languages AWK.
So my preference would be to write a Robot controller in AWK, I can smack AWK out of my fingers about as fast as you can say specifications out.
But my interest is here
"First off, I have little to no experience with Lua, we used it briefly in one of my game design courses but I didn't really have a use at the time. "
You've seen Lua, you know of it, you might / will see it again. I do a ton of "prove to me our network is at fault" I use Wireshark and I write Lua plugs to dig through hours of traces to find "where their network is at fault" So it's around.
If I have to pick a scripting language, I'll pick AWK, then Lua then some form of Robot COBOL
I'm not after widespread adoption. Teams will do C (C++) or Labview. Small numbers will do Perl, Ruby, Lua, Klingon, etc. I'm doing it for personal satisfaction, but the hive mind here is too much, so I have to ask what they think. I put the disclaimer in to fend away the people that can't grok something else.
I love C, and the Kevin Watson libraries are (wanted to write were, but my fingers wouldn't do it) just magical. The WPI libs that followed were the base for lots of my team's robots.
As a mentor, I want to give my roboteers life skills. Not losing a finger in a lathe is one. Programmers need to have the same chance to learn "stuff" So I can offer Lua. Another tool, another possibility. As a mentor, my chances for greatness are limited (oh just look around :-) ) so I'm doing something that will make me happy.
As far as the syntax check goes, the "home PC" can do a quick compile for syntax, but in the fast "now now now we are in the finals", that may not happen. Just change a few chars and upload
