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Seeing many posts about
#Lua
#programming
language on my feeds and socials recently. Very often the comments on these posts tend to fall into the same rants and misunderstandings. In 2021 I wrote about it in:
https://andregarzia.com/2021/01/lua-a-misunderstood-language.html
That is a good read for anyone puzzling about Lua.
@mcepl@en.osm.townSo, if I understand it correctly, TL;DR of the article is “Normal users hate #Lua, because they miss standard library; the feeling is mutual, we hate them as well. Lua should be used only by large (semi-)professional projects, which build they own standard library.” Did I get it right?
(Meanwhile, I have to fight about https://git.sr.ht/~mcepl/vis/commit/d19f12337e440 being included into #vis).
@mcepl I don't think you understood it at all. The TL;DR of the article is that Lua is a toolbox to be adapted, and that the community favours mechanisms and tools over features. There is zero claims about hate whatsoever.
Regarding to your PR, I think your tone there was not right for someone who is trying to contribute to FOSS (I read the mailing list exchange). You literally patronised and antagonised the maintainer because they didn't want your PR. That is not the way.
Exactly: a programming language is either like Python (“batteries included”) or it is like C (“do it yourself”; although there is a large stdlib called libc). The first is good for a general scripting, the second one isn’t. Yes, no sense adding file functions to Lua embedded in WoW, but e.g. Neovim (and any other editor like vis) must develop their own stdlib. Thus, “we don’t like you to use Lua for anything smaller than a project large enough for you to develop your own stdlib”.
@mcepl that is really not the case. You can use Lua in small projects without any problem. I do it all the time.
The article is not about having or not having a standard library. That matters very little. It is about providing mechanisms and tools over features.