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Diffstat (limited to 'lua/HISTORY')
| -rw-r--r-- | lua/HISTORY | 159 |
1 files changed, 159 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/lua/HISTORY b/lua/HISTORY new file mode 100644 index 000000000..cf6e1c019 --- /dev/null +++ b/lua/HISTORY @@ -0,0 +1,159 @@ +This is Lua 5.0. + +* Changes from version 4.0 to 5.0 + ------------------------------- + Language: + + lexical scoping. + + Lua coroutines. + + standard libraries now packaged in tables. + + tags replaced by metatables and tag methods replaced by metamethods, + stored in metatables. + + proper tail calls. + + each function can have its own global table, which can be shared. + + new __newindex metamethod, called when we insert a new key into a table. + + new block comments: --[[ ... ]]. + + new generic for. + + new weak tables. + + new boolean type. + + new syntax "local function". + + (f()) returns the first value returned by f. + + {f()} fills a table with all values returned by f. + + \n ignored in [[\n . + + fixed and-or priorities. + + more general syntax for function definition (e.g. function a.x.y:f()...end). + + more general syntax for function calls (e.g. (print or write)(9)). + + new functions (time/date, tmpfile, unpack, require, load*, etc.). + API: + + chunks are loaded by using lua_load; new luaL_loadfile and luaL_loadbuffer. + + introduced lightweight userdata, a simple "void*" without a metatable. + + new error handling protocol: the core no longer prints error messages; + all errors are reported to the caller on the stack. + + new lua_atpanic for host cleanup. + + new, signal-safe, hook scheme. + Implementation: + + new license: MIT. + + new, faster, register-based virtual machine. + + support for external multithreading and coroutines. + + new and consistent error message format. + + the core no longer needs "stdio.h" for anything (except for a single + use of sprintf to convert numbers to strings). + + lua.c now runs the environment variable LUA_INIT, if present. It can + be "@filename", to run a file, or the chunk itself. + + support for user extensions in lua.c. + sample implementation given for command line editing. + + new dynamic loading library, active by default on several platforms. + + safe garbage-collector metamethods. + + precompiled bytecodes checked for integrity (secure binary dostring). + + strings are fully aligned. + + position capture in string.find. + + read('*l') can read lines with embedded zeros. + +* Changes from version 3.2 to 4.0 + ------------------------------- + Language: + + new "break" and "for" statements (both numerical and for tables). + + uniform treatment of globals: globals are now stored in a Lua table. + + improved error messages. + + no more '$debug': full speed *and* full debug information. + + new read form: read(N) for next N bytes. + + general read patterns now deprecated. + (still available with -DCOMPAT_READPATTERNS.) + + all return values are passed as arguments for the last function + (old semantics still available with -DLUA_COMPAT_ARGRET) + + garbage collection tag methods for tables now deprecated. + + there is now only one tag method for order. + API: + + New API: fully re-entrant, simpler, and more efficient. + + New debug API. + Implementation: + + faster than ever: cleaner virtual machine and new hashing algorithm. + + non-recursive garbage-collector algorithm. + + reduced memory usage for programs with many strings. + + improved treatment for memory allocation errors. + + improved support for 16-bit machines (we hope). + + code now compiles unmodified as both ANSI C and C++. + + numbers in bases other than 10 are converted using strtoul. + + new -f option in Lua to support #! scripts. + + luac can now combine text and binaries. + +* Changes from version 3.1 to 3.2 + ------------------------------- + + redirected all output in Lua's core to _ERRORMESSAGE and _ALERT. + + increased limit on the number of constants and globals per function + (from 2^16 to 2^24). + + debugging info (lua_debug and hooks) moved into lua_state and new API + functions provided to get and set this info. + + new debug lib gives full debugging access within Lua. + + new table functions "foreachi", "sort", "tinsert", "tremove", "getn". + + new io functions "flush", "seek". + +* Changes from version 3.0 to 3.1 + ------------------------------- + + NEW FEATURE: anonymous functions with closures (via "upvalues"). + + new syntax: + - local variables in chunks. + - better scope control with DO block END. + - constructors can now be also written: { record-part; list-part }. + - more general syntax for function calls and lvalues, e.g.: + f(x).y=1 + o:f(x,y):g(z) + f"string" is sugar for f("string") + + strings may now contain arbitrary binary data (e.g., embedded zeros). + + major code re-organization and clean-up; reduced module interdependecies. + + no arbitrary limits on the total number of constants and globals. + + support for multiple global contexts. + + better syntax error messages. + + new traversal functions "foreach" and "foreachvar". + + the default for numbers is now double. + changing it to use floats or longs is easy. + + complete debug information stored in pre-compiled chunks. + + sample interpreter now prompts user when run interactively, and also + handles control-C interruptions gracefully. + +* Changes from version 2.5 to 3.0 + ------------------------------- + + NEW CONCEPT: "tag methods". + Tag methods replace fallbacks as the meta-mechanism for extending the + semantics of Lua. Whereas fallbacks had a global nature, tag methods + work on objects having the same tag (e.g., groups of tables). + Existing code that uses fallbacks should work without change. + + new, general syntax for constructors {[exp] = exp, ... }. + + support for handling variable number of arguments in functions (varargs). + + support for conditional compilation ($if ... $else ... $end). + + cleaner semantics in API simplifies host code. + + better support for writing libraries (auxlib.h). + + better type checking and error messages in the standard library. + + luac can now also undump. + +* Changes from version 2.4 to 2.5 + ------------------------------- + + io and string libraries are now based on pattern matching; + the old libraries are still available for compatibility + + dofile and dostring can now return values (via return statement) + + better support for 16- and 64-bit machines + + expanded documentation, with more examples + +* Changes from version 2.2 to 2.4 + ------------------------------- + + external compiler creates portable binary files that can be loaded faster + + interface for debugging and profiling + + new "getglobal" fallback + + new functions for handling references to Lua objects + + new functions in standard lib + + only one copy of each string is stored + + expanded documentation, with more examples + +* Changes from version 2.1 to 2.2 + ------------------------------- + + functions now may be declared with any "lvalue" as a name + + garbage collection of functions + + support for pipes + +* Changes from version 1.1 to 2.1 + ------------------------------- + + object-oriented support + + fallbacks + + simplified syntax for tables + + many internal improvements + +(end of HISTORY) |