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| 1 | +HISTORY for Lua 5.1 |
| 2 | + |
| 3 | +* Changes from version 5.0 to 5.1 |
| 4 | + ------------------------------- |
| 5 | + Language: |
| 6 | + + new module system. |
| 7 | + + new semantics for control variables of fors. |
| 8 | + + new semantics for setn/getn. |
| 9 | + + new syntax/semantics for varargs. |
| 10 | + + new long strings and comments. |
| 11 | + + new `mod' operator (`%') |
| 12 | + + new length operator #t |
| 13 | + + metatables for all types |
| 14 | + API: |
| 15 | + + new functions: lua_createtable, lua_get(set)field, lua_push(to)integer. |
| 16 | + + user supplies memory allocator (lua_open becomes lua_newstate). |
| 17 | + + luaopen_* functions must be called through Lua. |
| 18 | + Implementation: |
| 19 | + + new configuration scheme via luaconf.h. |
| 20 | + + incremental garbage collection. |
| 21 | + + better handling of end-of-line in the lexer. |
| 22 | + + fully reentrant parser (new Lua function `load') |
| 23 | + + better support for 64-bit machines. |
| 24 | + + native loadlib support for Mac OS X. |
| 25 | + + standard distribution in only one library (lualib.a merged into lua.a) |
| 26 | + |
| 27 | +* Changes from version 4.0 to 5.0 |
| 28 | + ------------------------------- |
| 29 | + Language: |
| 30 | + + lexical scoping. |
| 31 | + + Lua coroutines. |
| 32 | + + standard libraries now packaged in tables. |
| 33 | + + tags replaced by metatables and tag methods replaced by metamethods, |
| 34 | + stored in metatables. |
| 35 | + + proper tail calls. |
| 36 | + + each function can have its own global table, which can be shared. |
| 37 | + + new __newindex metamethod, called when we insert a new key into a table. |
| 38 | + + new block comments: --[[ ... ]]. |
| 39 | + + new generic for. |
| 40 | + + new weak tables. |
| 41 | + + new boolean type. |
| 42 | + + new syntax "local function". |
| 43 | + + (f()) returns the first value returned by f. |
| 44 | + + {f()} fills a table with all values returned by f. |
| 45 | + + \n ignored in [[\n . |
| 46 | + + fixed and-or priorities. |
| 47 | + + more general syntax for function definition (e.g. function a.x.y:f()...end). |
| 48 | + + more general syntax for function calls (e.g. (print or write)(9)). |
| 49 | + + new functions (time/date, tmpfile, unpack, require, load*, etc.). |
| 50 | + API: |
| 51 | + + chunks are loaded by using lua_load; new luaL_loadfile and luaL_loadbuffer. |
| 52 | + + introduced lightweight userdata, a simple "void*" without a metatable. |
| 53 | + + new error handling protocol: the core no longer prints error messages; |
| 54 | + all errors are reported to the caller on the stack. |
| 55 | + + new lua_atpanic for host cleanup. |
| 56 | + + new, signal-safe, hook scheme. |
| 57 | + Implementation: |
| 58 | + + new license: MIT. |
| 59 | + + new, faster, register-based virtual machine. |
| 60 | + + support for external multithreading and coroutines. |
| 61 | + + new and consistent error message format. |
| 62 | + + the core no longer needs "stdio.h" for anything (except for a single |
| 63 | + use of sprintf to convert numbers to strings). |
| 64 | + + lua.c now runs the environment variable LUA_INIT, if present. It can |
| 65 | + be "@filename", to run a file, or the chunk itself. |
| 66 | + + support for user extensions in lua.c. |
| 67 | + sample implementation given for command line editing. |
| 68 | + + new dynamic loading library, active by default on several platforms. |
| 69 | + + safe garbage-collector metamethods. |
| 70 | + + precompiled bytecodes checked for integrity (secure binary dostring). |
| 71 | + + strings are fully aligned. |
| 72 | + + position capture in string.find. |
| 73 | + + read('*l') can read lines with embedded zeros. |
| 74 | + |
| 75 | +* Changes from version 3.2 to 4.0 |
| 76 | + ------------------------------- |
| 77 | + Language: |
| 78 | + + new "break" and "for" statements (both numerical and for tables). |
| 79 | + + uniform treatment of globals: globals are now stored in a Lua table. |
| 80 | + + improved error messages. |
| 81 | + + no more '$debug': full speed *and* full debug information. |
| 82 | + + new read form: read(N) for next N bytes. |
| 83 | + + general read patterns now deprecated. |
| 84 | + (still available with -DCOMPAT_READPATTERNS.) |
| 85 | + + all return values are passed as arguments for the last function |
| 86 | + (old semantics still available with -DLUA_COMPAT_ARGRET) |
| 87 | + + garbage collection tag methods for tables now deprecated. |
| 88 | + + there is now only one tag method for order. |
| 89 | + API: |
| 90 | + + New API: fully re-entrant, simpler, and more efficient. |
| 91 | + + New debug API. |
| 92 | + Implementation: |
| 93 | + + faster than ever: cleaner virtual machine and new hashing algorithm. |
| 94 | + + non-recursive garbage-collector algorithm. |
| 95 | + + reduced memory usage for programs with many strings. |
| 96 | + + improved treatment for memory allocation errors. |
| 97 | + + improved support for 16-bit machines (we hope). |
| 98 | + + code now compiles unmodified as both ANSI C and C++. |
| 99 | + + numbers in bases other than 10 are converted using strtoul. |
| 100 | + + new -f option in Lua to support #! scripts. |
| 101 | + + luac can now combine text and binaries. |
| 102 | + |
| 103 | +* Changes from version 3.1 to 3.2 |
| 104 | + ------------------------------- |
| 105 | + + redirected all output in Lua's core to _ERRORMESSAGE and _ALERT. |
| 106 | + + increased limit on the number of constants and globals per function |
| 107 | + (from 2^16 to 2^24). |
| 108 | + + debugging info (lua_debug and hooks) moved into lua_state and new API |
| 109 | + functions provided to get and set this info. |
| 110 | + + new debug lib gives full debugging access within Lua. |
| 111 | + + new table functions "foreachi", "sort", "tinsert", "tremove", "getn". |
| 112 | + + new io functions "flush", "seek". |
| 113 | + |
| 114 | +* Changes from version 3.0 to 3.1 |
| 115 | + ------------------------------- |
| 116 | + + NEW FEATURE: anonymous functions with closures (via "upvalues"). |
| 117 | + + new syntax: |
| 118 | + - local variables in chunks. |
| 119 | + - better scope control with DO block END. |
| 120 | + - constructors can now be also written: { record-part; list-part }. |
| 121 | + - more general syntax for function calls and lvalues, e.g.: |
| 122 | + f(x).y=1 |
| 123 | + o:f(x,y):g(z) |
| 124 | + f"string" is sugar for f("string") |
| 125 | + + strings may now contain arbitrary binary data (e.g., embedded zeros). |
| 126 | + + major code re-organization and clean-up; reduced module interdependecies. |
| 127 | + + no arbitrary limits on the total number of constants and globals. |
| 128 | + + support for multiple global contexts. |
| 129 | + + better syntax error messages. |
| 130 | + + new traversal functions "foreach" and "foreachvar". |
| 131 | + + the default for numbers is now double. |
| 132 | + changing it to use floats or longs is easy. |
| 133 | + + complete debug information stored in pre-compiled chunks. |
| 134 | + + sample interpreter now prompts user when run interactively, and also |
| 135 | + handles control-C interruptions gracefully. |
| 136 | + |
| 137 | +* Changes from version 2.5 to 3.0 |
| 138 | + ------------------------------- |
| 139 | + + NEW CONCEPT: "tag methods". |
| 140 | + Tag methods replace fallbacks as the meta-mechanism for extending the |
| 141 | + semantics of Lua. Whereas fallbacks had a global nature, tag methods |
| 142 | + work on objects having the same tag (e.g., groups of tables). |
| 143 | + Existing code that uses fallbacks should work without change. |
| 144 | + + new, general syntax for constructors {[exp] = exp, ... }. |
| 145 | + + support for handling variable number of arguments in functions (varargs). |
| 146 | + + support for conditional compilation ($if ... $else ... $end). |
| 147 | + + cleaner semantics in API simplifies host code. |
| 148 | + + better support for writing libraries (auxlib.h). |
| 149 | + + better type checking and error messages in the standard library. |
| 150 | + + luac can now also undump. |
| 151 | + |
| 152 | +* Changes from version 2.4 to 2.5 |
| 153 | + ------------------------------- |
| 154 | + + io and string libraries are now based on pattern matching; |
| 155 | + the old libraries are still available for compatibility |
| 156 | + + dofile and dostring can now return values (via return statement) |
| 157 | + + better support for 16- and 64-bit machines |
| 158 | + + expanded documentation, with more examples |
| 159 | + |
| 160 | +* Changes from version 2.2 to 2.4 |
| 161 | + ------------------------------- |
| 162 | + + external compiler creates portable binary files that can be loaded faster |
| 163 | + + interface for debugging and profiling |
| 164 | + + new "getglobal" fallback |
| 165 | + + new functions for handling references to Lua objects |
| 166 | + + new functions in standard lib |
| 167 | + + only one copy of each string is stored |
| 168 | + + expanded documentation, with more examples |
| 169 | + |
| 170 | +* Changes from version 2.1 to 2.2 |
| 171 | + ------------------------------- |
| 172 | + + functions now may be declared with any "lvalue" as a name |
| 173 | + + garbage collection of functions |
| 174 | + + support for pipes |
| 175 | + |
| 176 | +* Changes from version 1.1 to 2.1 |
| 177 | + ------------------------------- |
| 178 | + + object-oriented support |
| 179 | + + fallbacks |
| 180 | + + simplified syntax for tables |
| 181 | + + many internal improvements |
| 182 | + |
| 183 | +(end of HISTORY) |
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