[NTLK] NewtonScript and Lua

[tjgriffin]

I think it is commonly included with linux, like Python. I've been using it
for years. Watchmaker, a watchface design app for WearOS smartwatches, uses
it. It\ did not know that NewtonScript was so similar.

Thanks, Matthias

On Tue, Mar 1, 2022 at 9:21 AM Matthias Melcher <m.melcher at robowerk.de>
wrote:

>
> Just a hint for future NewtonScript programmers :-) . The language "Lua"
> is based on the same concepts as NewtonScript.
>
> Both languages were developed around the same time, and both have almost
> the same features. The main difference is, that Lua is now a quite popular
> language with a ton of support on the 'net. It's tiny (as is NewtonScript)
> and interfaces easily with many other languages.
>
> Lua today is often used in games where the main game engine is high
> efficient C and C++ code that is optimised and hard and time consuming to
> compile and build. Lua OTOH is a script language, and scripts can be easily
> modified without the need to compile or build anything. This gives an
> extremely fast turn-around time, so Lua is used for character behaviours,
> and overall game strategies.
>
> It's the same on our MPs: the hard graphics work is done in C/C++ in the
> ROM, but the easier stuff, strategies, databases, user experience, is done
> in NewtonScript. And as with any script language, Lua and NS can generate
> and run their own script code.
>
> So, if you find the NewtonScript documentation outdated and difficult to
> read, and don't feel like fuzzing with NTK on an emulator, but you still
> want to learn a programming language, then Lua may be a great start.
>
> There is tons of documentation, many YouTube videos, and many resources
> all over the web. Heck, Lua even interfaces to the GUI library FLTK, so you
> can build your own graphical applications as well.
>
> And I promise you, if you understand Lua, moving to NewtonScript is super
> easy (barely an inconvenience...), and you will be writing Apps for our
> Gren Friend in no time.
>
>  - Matthias
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> http://newtontalk.net
> http://twitter.com/newtontalk
>


-- 

- Tere