Re: Luna: A scripting App for the iPad

[ObjectiveCeeds <info@...>]

The first version was just a test. Running an embedded scripting engine violates the terms of the App Store. I disabled all functions, especially with a focus on threading or IO handling and such things. You only had the "raw" syntax of Lua. It was just a test, if Apple would accept this kind of application and I don't wanted to spend many hours in an App, that will be rejected. Apple did not reject this App, and to be honest, this was a surprise for me.

Now I will add more and more functions to Luna. This version introduced the math functions which just map to the original Lua math lib. You got string  functions. They are completely rewritten and wrap to the NSString objects of iOS Foundation, which means, Luna handles strings as UTF8 from the bottom to the top. IO functions were specially designed for the use with iPad. The UIKit is completely event driven. To have a linear input function like readline() means to stop the Lua thread and restart it when the input is done by the GUI.

You can find the complete list of available functions in the documentation.

Table handling will be back with the next version. Im looking for a way, to wrap tables to Foundations NSDictionary. This would bring a lot of advantages, especially the ability of serialization. Serialization: a simple way to store data is also planed for the next release. And, as Jobs would say, another feature the world has never seen before, which will change the life of millions of people in the whole universe.



Am 21.12.2010 um 10:28 schrieb Gunnar Zötl:

> 
>> Perhaps I just should call it "AppWithManyNames" ;-)
> 
> or just keep the name as it is. As long as your app is ipad only, I don't see a problem with it having the same name as a C++ binding. Might not be the best of choices, but should not cause any harm either.
> 
> On a separate note, I might just be dim, but I can't get your luna to accept anything lua apart from the most basic syntax. Trying to create a table ends with a syntax error, using ipairs or tostring yields unknown functions... so is this lua or does it just share the syntax? Admittedly, I spent only about 10 minutes with it, but I kinda feel that I should be able to knock up a one-liner in lua...
> 
> Gunnar
>