Lua Programming

wiki

Programming Paradigms

• Module Programming
  • ModulesTutorial - creating and using Lua modules
  • TheEssenceOfLoadingCode - the ways of loading external code in Lua
  • ModuleExecutionProposal - new command-line switch -p to run package module as a script
  • Customized Definitions and Loaders
    • ModuleDefinition - approaches to define modules
    • LuaModulesLoader - a Lua implementation of the standard Lua module loader
    • BinaryModulesLoader - a Lua implementation of the standard binary module loader
    • HashedModulesLoader - a module loader that verifies the module cryptographic hash prior to loading
  • Namespace Arrangement
    • ModuleReview - an effort for classification, quality assurance, and standartization of existing Lua modules
    • LuaSearch - an effort to provide a centralized locater of Lua modules and documentation (like CPAN)
    • StandardLibraries - std namespace: os, io, getopt, string, regex, xml, list/set/table, object, and math modules
    • LuaRocks - rocks namespace: an open set of self-contained packages with dependency info
• Object-oriented Programming
  • See ObjectOrientedProgramming.
• Declarative and Functional Programming
  • CurriedLua - currying functions in Lua
  • FunctionalLibrary - porting several convenient functional utilities form Haskell, Python, etc.
  • ShortAnonymousFunctions - expressing anonymous functions more tersely than function() return ... end
  • Data Structures
    • FunctionalTuples - implementing tuples in terms functions (design pattern and tutorial)
    • MutableFunctions - using functions to simulate the semantics of tables (design pattern)
    • RecursiveDataTypes - handling recursive data types (design pattern and tutorial)
    • ListComprehensions - list comprehension implementations
  • Memoisation and Lazy Evaluation
    • RandomSample - lazy tables, a simple illustration of lazy evaluation (design pattern)
    • FuncTables - memoization of functions using callable tables (design pattern, code, and tutorial)
    • HammingNumbersVariant - enumerate hamming numbers, with lazy list (function)
  • Functional Text Processing
    • FiltersSourcesAndSinks - discusses chaining of filters, which are functions that accept successive chunks of input, and produce successive chunks of output
    • GenericInputAlgorithms - functional, AWK-style text processing in Lua
• Concurrent and Event-driven Programming
  • MultiTasking - multitasking/multithreading approaches in Lua
  • FiniteStateMachine - finite state machine (FSMs) (design pattern)
  • Coroutines
    • CopasExample - TCP socket server utilizing Copas library (examples)
    • CoroutinesAsConnectionHandlers - scaffolding for handling multiple sockets using coroutines (design pattern)
    • CoroutinesAsEventHandlers - scaffolding for handling event responders (design pattern)
    • FunWithCoroutines - tricks using coroutines: reverse string and control inversion (design patterns)
• Source Preprocessing and Metaprogramming
  • See LuaDomains.

Design Patterns, Programming Techniques, Code Structure

• Error and Exception Handling
  • See ErrorHandling.
• Operator Overloading
  • LuaVirtualization - which operations can/cannot be hooked
  • CustomOperators - approaches to using custom operators
  • PointAndComplex - comments on operator overloading in Lua
• Miscellaneous
  • StatementsInExpressions - assignments and local declarations inside expressions (hacks and design patterns)
  • ExpressionsAsStatements - using expressions as statements (hacks and design patterns)
  • ResourceAcquisitionIsInitialization, RAII - automatically releasing acquired resources on scope exit (design pattern, module)
  • DecoratorsAndDocstrings - associating metadata and help on objects (design pattern)
  • SwitchStatement - emulating a C-style switch statement in Lua (design pattern)
  • GotoStatement - goto statement
  • WithStatement - implementing a "with" structure (like in JavaScript etc.)
  • TemplatePattern - an implementation of template method pattern (sample code)
  • MakingLuaLikePhp - PHP-like functions implemented in Lua (functions)
  • MakingLuaLikeRuby - simulating some of the semantics of Ruby in Lua (design pattern)
• Conventions and Discussions
  • LuaStyleGuide - recommended Lua coding practices
  • LuaDesignPatterns - additional design patterns and discussions
  • LuaHacks - unconventional approaches to problems in Lua

Algorithms

• OptimizedSampleCode - best known algorithms that perform the specified tasks
• Data Structures and Types
  • Definition
    • See DataStructures.
  • Operations
    • BitwiseOperators - various bitwise operators implementations
    • SetOperations - test for set or list membership (design pattern)
    • CopyTable - return deep copy of table (function)
    • ComparisonByValue - make a table compare its keys by value rather than by reference
    • SetVariablesAndTablesWithFunction - recursively build and set table fields with dot notation--e.g. "x.y.z" (function and design pattern)
    • TableSerialization - convert recursive table to string or file
    • TableUtils - additional operations on tables
• Searching, Sorting, Traversal, Iterators
  • Ordering Iterators
    • OrderedTable - iterate over tables in the order of key insertion (function and design pattern)
    • OrderedTableSimple - iterate over tables in the order of key insertion (function and design pattern)
    • OrderedAssociativeTable - iterate over a table using a sorted index (function and design pattern)
    • RangeIterator - a 'range' iterator function that acts like basic for loops (function)
    • SortedIteration - iterating a table in order by keys (function)
    • SortedIterationSimple - iterating a table in order by keys (function)
    • GeneralizedPairsAndIpairs - next, pairs, and ipairs reimplemented to call metamethods (design pattern and functions)
    • NextMetamethodForIndexTable - next()-like function for iterating table against table __index (function and design pattern)
  • Sorting
    • LazySort - sort only as much of a table as is necessary (function and tutorial)
    • LuaSorting - a sample shellsort implementation in pure Lua (function)
  • Search in sorted arrays
    • BinarySearch - searches for a value in a sorted array via a binary search algorithm (function)
    • BinaryInsert - inserts a value into a sorted array via a binary search algorithm (function)
    • InterpolatingSearch - searches for a value in a sorted array via an interpolating search algorithm (function)
• String Manipulation
  • CommandLineParsing - approaches to command-line parsing in Lua
  • RandomStrings - generate random strings from defined char sets (function)
  • To-string conversion and output
    • StringInterpolation - interpolating variables into strings in Lua (functions and design patterns)
    • TableSerialization - converting tables to strings and vice versa
    • LuaPrintf - emulation of printf string formatting (function)
    • FormattingNumbers - format numbers in monetary format (function)
    • HexDump - dump a string in typical 'hex dump' format
  • Text Processing and Encoding
    • See LuaDomains.
• Numbers
  • IntegerDomain - calculates the actual limits for integer numbers which can be exactly represented by Lua (function)
  • FormattingNumbers - format numbers in monetary format (function)
  • ReadWriteFormat - a way to pack/unpack integer values into a binary string (functions)
  • SimpleRound - round number to N decimal places (functions)
  • Mathematics
    • See LuaDomains.
• Time and Date
  • TimeZone - obtaining portable timezone string in form +hhmm or -hhmm (function)
  • DateFormattingFunctions - format date into various date string format (functions)
  • DayOfWeekAndDaysInMonthExample - calculate number of days in month or day of week in calendar day (functions)
  • DisplayCalendarInHtml - creates calendar in HTML (function)
• Filesystem
  • ExtensionProposal - extended os and io API (modules)
  • DirTreeIterator - iterator function for recursive file/directory traversal (function)
  • FileInputOutput - input/output file utility functions (functions)
  • FileGlob - matching filenames with glob expressions (function)
  • LuaRecipes - getting a list of files or directories

See also

• LuaDomains - application-field specific approaches, techniques, and modules
• LuaCoding - code creating, building, binding, testing, optimizing, maintaining, and sharing
• LuaAddons - a directory of "things for Lua" that are outside this site
• LuaLinks - a directory of external Lua links including articles, tutorials, and comparisons