RE: Hmm. Why no binaries?

[Julien Duminil <julien.duminil@...>]

I played a lot with Lua on many computers, and I'm happy that I never had to compile it for myself, thanks to Lua Binaries [1] and LfW [2].
When I will *need* to compile Lua for me, it will not be a problem because I'm programming in C++ for almost 10 years.
But it was merely faster to download a ready-to-run Lua executable than to build it, and it was also a way to have a "not standard but almost" version of Lua executable on Windows platform.

I have not yet used LuaJIT (because I have too few time for my personal projects, but I know that I will do some day, because LuaJIT seems to be a very good product), but I think that I would already be using it if there was a place where I could find a "not standard but almost" version of LuaJIT binaries for Windows. It not have necessarily to be on the LuaJIT website, and it will not prevent you to build your own binaries ... :)

Julien D.

PS: and I not always had a compiler installed on the computers I used (and sometimes I didn't want to because it was not my computer).

[1] http://luabinaries.sourceforge.net/
[2] http://code.google.com/p/luaforwindows/


________________________________________
De : lua-l-bounces@lists.lua.org [mailto:lua-l-bounces@lists.lua.org] De la part de Gerry Weaver
Envoyé : mercredi 14 septembre 2011 05:11
À : Lua mailing list
Objet : Re: Hmm. Why no binaries?

Hi,

Well... since the topic of this thread was originally about LuaJIT on Windows, I would direct you to the LuaJIT website. Under the installation instructions you can find a link to the free Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Express compiler. You can also just follow the link below. It installs just like any other Windows application. Just give it a shot and let me know if you have any problems ;-)

http://luajit.org/install.html

http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/en-us/products/2010-editions/visual-cpp-express

Okay. I don't mean to ruffle any feathers, but here's the thing. Lua is very dependent on C/C++. Lua gets most of it's functionality from C/C++ libraries. I'm starting to get the impression that a few folks think/wish they could somehow ignore C/C++ and exist in a world where they don't have to know or care about C/C++ and building C/C++ code. Unfortunately, in my opinion, Lua is so dependent on C/C++ for even the most basic facilities, that it's really not possible. I'm not recommending that everyone run out and become an expert in C/C++ programming. However, having the ability to resolve simple compile/link errors is going to enhance the Lua experience immeasurably. No one would expect this to happen overnight. Give it a try and ask questions if you run into problems. I hope y'all hang in there with Lua. It's an awesome language. However, if you are violently opposed to the idea of learning the basics of C/C++ and building C/C++ code, perhaps Lua is not the right choice for you. I think Visual Basic or Java might be much better options. Then again, I'm sure there are those who would vigorously disagree with me.

Thanks,
-G