Re: From Lua to Python?

[Enrico Colombini <erix@...>]

On 13-Jul-17 13:47, Dibyendu Majumdar wrote:
> Certainly having something like NumPY has made a big difference. But I
> also think that Python's built in support for classes might be a
> factor. Having a standard way of doing OO programming probably helps.

Those considerations could be involved, but I think the main factors in 
Python popularity (vs. Lua) are simply the ease of installation of 
language and add-ons on Windows for non-experts and the huge amount of 
ready-to-use libraries (even if sometimes confusing, overlapping, badly 
documented and not always coherent).

I once wrote a program that needed both serial communication and 
scientific numerical libraries. It had to run on Linux and Windows and 
be simple to install for non-programmers, so I chose Python.
It is fair to note that installing NumPy on Windows proved to be much 
more complex than anticipated, in fact not simpler than adding Lua 
libraries, so for the Windows version I advised my users to use 
pre-built Anaconda (https://www.continuum.io/)... and, having no time to 
spare, did the same myself.

I think that the previously-discussed "ActiveLua" from ActiveState could 
be quite useful to Windows users in such situations.

--
  Enrico