summaryrefslogtreecommitdiffstats
path: root/deps/lua/HISTORY
blob: ce0c95bc69efec40def689a0557fa4c211e470b7 (plain)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
HISTORY for Lua 5.1

* Changes from version 5.0 to 5.1
  -------------------------------
  Language:
  + new module system.
  + new semantics for control variables of fors.
  + new semantics for setn/getn.
  + new syntax/semantics for varargs.
  + new long strings and comments.
  + new `mod' operator (`%')
  + new length operator #t
  + metatables for all types
  API:
  + new functions: lua_createtable, lua_get(set)field, lua_push(to)integer.
  + user supplies memory allocator (lua_open becomes lua_newstate).
  + luaopen_* functions must be called through Lua.
  Implementation:
  + new configuration scheme via luaconf.h.
  + incremental garbage collection.
  + better handling of end-of-line in the lexer.
  + fully reentrant parser (new Lua function `load')
  + better support for 64-bit machines.
  + native loadlib support for Mac OS X.
  + standard distribution in only one library (lualib.a merged into lua.a)

* 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)