Michael Richter

wiki

I've always been the kind of person who's disdained the "one tool in the tool belt"-style software developers that plague the industry. (Would you trust an auto mechanic who only uses a crescent wrench and a screwdriver? Then why do so many people trust software developers who use C/C++ and maybe a simple scripting language?) To put it more bluntly, I'm a language whore. I like to pick up new languages like other people like to pick up magazines from tables. If I find a language that stretches an existing paradigm or, even better, introduces me to a new one I'm happy.

I started tinkering with Lua back in the v3.2 days. I've been a loyalist ever since. Unfortunately I couldn't convince any employers to consider Lua for anything (my last employer embedded Tcl in their product!), one of the myriad of things contributing to my decision to give up software as a career. Instead I now write my own software for my own amusement or use and, oddly enough, Lua features prominently in much of my software development.

My current projects (all done part-time) include:

• a software installation package for Win32 that contains a useful scripting language instead of nasty hack-work;
• an end-all, be-all MUD/MUSH/MUX/MUCK/MOO/telnet client that supports downloadable extension modules and really sophisticated end-user scripting;
• anything else that strikes my fancy.

Don't hold your breath for any of these....

• A complete C++ grammar is dozens of pages long. The complete Lua grammar fits on one page.