Scripting Languages are for Insane People!!!!

Question

Hope you brought your flamethrowers because I am feeling a bit chilled.
Sooo I am knee deep in some heavy javascript(Nodejs) and while fighting to populate an array with the results of a sqlite query
(somehow my array is getting nuked nodejs or nodejs-sqlite3 bug? )
I am left scratching my head saying to my self WTF!! This would have taken me like 5 sec in Qt C++. So I wrote up the same example
in Ruby, Python, Java, Lua and Perl. And in every case my Qt C++ example was not only cleaner, shorter but easier to write/understand.
Granted scripting languages are not only valuable but necessary in CERTAIN cases, but the way people use them today is just INSANE.
My primary scripting language is javascript but that is only because my work requires it. But ill take lua over any scripting language any day.
I am going to go sink my teeth in Django see if that pisses me off any less!
Sooo whats your opinion.
Last edited by zester (2011-09-13 05:19:18)

Answer 1

satanselbow wrote:
ethail wrote:
keenerd wrote:But Lua is a scripting language.  Maybe I missed the joke?
I think he could be pointing that of the many scripting languajes he has used, seems that only LUA satisfies him, and it's not widely used as he would like. That's what it seemed to me.
Somewhat ironically (within this threads context) - one of Lua's biggest selling points is it's simple integration with other languages, both scripting and higher level.
Good point!
Lua is insanely <-- Word of the day (Pee-Wee Herman Play House AHHHHHHHHHH) easy
to embed and bind.
Little examples I wrote a couple of years ago sooooo it is what it is.
If using C++
extern "C" {
#include "lua.h"
#include "lualib.h"
#include "lauxlib.h"
How to call a C Function from Lua
luaavg.c
#include <stdio.h>
#include "lua.h"
#include "lualib.h"
#include "lauxlib.h"
/* gcc -o luaavg luaavg.c -I/usr/local/include -L/usr/local/lib -llua -lm -ldl */
/* the Lua interpreter */
lua_State* L;
static int average(lua_State *L)
/* get number of arguments */
int n = lua_gettop(L);
double sum = 0;
int i;
/* loop through each argument */
for (i = 1; i <= n; i++)
/* total the arguments */
sum += lua_tonumber(L, i);
/* push the average */
lua_pushnumber(L, sum / n);
/* push the sum */
lua_pushnumber(L, sum);
/* return the number of results */
return 2;
int main ( int argc, char *argv[] )
/* initialize Lua */
L = lua_open();
/* load Lua base libraries */
luaL_openlibs(L);
/* register our function */
lua_register(L, "average", average);
/* run the script */
luaL_dofile(L, "avg.lua");
/* cleanup Lua */
lua_close(L);
/* print */
printf( "Press enter to exit..." );
getchar();
return 0;
-- call a C function
avg, sum = average(10, 20, 30, 40, 50)
print("The average is ", avg)
print("The sum is ", sum)
avg, sum = average(1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
print("The average is ", avg)
print("The sum is ", sum)
--- How to call a Lua Function from C
#include <stdio.h>
#include "lua.h"
#include "lualib.h"
#include "lauxlib.h"
/* gcc -o luadd luadd.c -I/usr/local/include -L/usr/local/lib -llua -lm -ldl */
/* the Lua interpreter */
lua_State* L;
int luaadd ( int x, int y )
int sum;
/* the function name */
lua_getglobal(L, "add");
/* the first argument */
lua_pushnumber(L, x);
/* the second argument */
lua_pushnumber(L, y);
/* call the function with 2 arguments, return 1 result */
lua_call(L, 2, 1);
/* get the result */
sum = (int)lua_tointeger(L, -1);
lua_pop(L, 1);
return sum;
int main ( int argc, char *argv[] )
int sum;
/* initialize Lua */
L = lua_open();
/* load Lua base libraries */
luaL_openlibs(L);
/* load the script */
luaL_dofile(L, "add.lua");
/* call the add function */
sum = luaadd( 10, 15 );
/* print the result */
printf( "The sum is %d\n", sum );
/* cleanup Lua */
lua_close(L);
/* pause */
printf( "Press enter to exit..." );
getchar();
return 0;
-- add two numbers
function add ( x, y )
return x + y
end
--- How to load and call a lua function from c
//last.cc
# extern "C" {
# #include "lua.h"
# #include "lualib.h"
# #include "lauxlib.h"
int main()
double z;
lua_State *L = lua_open();
luaL_openlibs(L);
if (luaL_loadfile(L, "last.lua") || lua_pcall(L, 0, 0, 0)) {
printf("error: %s", lua_tostring(L, -1));
return -1;
lua_getglobal(L, "f");
if(!lua_isfunction(L,-1))
lua_pop(L,1);
return -1;
lua_pushnumber(L, 21); /* push 1st argument */
lua_pushnumber(L, 31); /* push 2nd argument */
/* do the call (2 arguments, 1 result) */
if (lua_pcall(L, 2, 1, 0) != 0) {
printf("error running function `f': %s\n",lua_tostring(L, -1));
return -1;
/* retrieve result */
if (!lua_isnumber(L, -1)) {
printf("function `f' must return a number\n");
return -1;
z = lua_tonumber(L, -1);
printf("Result: %f\n",z);
lua_pop(L, 1);
lua_close(L);
return 0;
function f (x, y)
return (x^2 * math.sin(y))/(1 - x)
end
---- How to execute a Lua Script from C.
#include "lua.h"
#include "lualib.h"
#include "lauxlib.h"
/* gcc -o luatest luatest.c -I/usr/local/include -L/usr/local/lib -llua -lm -ldl */
int main()
int s=0;
lua_State *L = lua_open();
// load the libs
luaL_openlibs(L);
//run a Lua scrip here
luaL_dofile(L,"foo.lua");
printf("\nAllright we are back in C.\n");
lua_close(L);
return 0;
io.write("Please enter your name: ")
name = io.read() -- read input from user
print ("Hi " .. name .. ", did you know we are in lua right now?")
---- How to get a Variable value from Lua to C.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <lua.h>
#include <lualib.h>
#include <lauxlib.h>
#include <string.h>
/* gcc -o test test.c -I/usr/local/include -L/usr/local/lib -llua -lm -ldl */
int main()
lua_State *L = lua_open();
if(luaL_loadfile(L,"settings.lua") || lua_pcall(L,0,0,0))
printf("Error failed to load %s",lua_tostring(L,-1));
else
lua_getglobal(L,"screenWidth");
const int screenWidth = lua_tonumber(L,-1);
printf("Screen Width = %d \n", screenWidth);
lua_getglobal(L,"appName");
const char *appName = luaL_checkstring(L, -1);
printf("Screen Name = %s \n", appName);
lua_close(L);
/* If we got this far, everything worked */
printf("Success!\n");
return 0;
appName = "Firefox"
screenWidth = 400
------ How to write a lua binding in C.
#include "lua.h"
#include "lualib.h"
#include "lauxlib.h"
#include <string.h>
/* gcc zstring.c -Wall -shared -o zstring.so */
static int zst_strlen(lua_State *L)
size_t len;
len = strlen(lua_tostring(L, 1));
lua_pushnumber(L, len);
return 1;
int luaopen_zstring(lua_State *L)
lua_register(L,"zst_strlen", zst_strlen);
return 0;
require "zstring"
print(zst_strlen("Hello, World"))
----- Another Binding Example
#include "lua.h"
#include "lualib.h"
#include "lauxlib.h"
#include <unistd.h>
#include <sys/stat.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
/* gcc general.c -Wall -shared -o general.so */
/* system */
static int zst_exec(lua_State *L)
int status;
status = system(lua_tostring(L, 1));
lua_pushnumber(L, status);
return 1;
/* mkdir */
static int zst_mkdir(lua_State *L)
int status;
mode_t mode = lua_tonumber(L, 2);
status = mkdir(lua_tostring(L, 1), mode);
lua_pushnumber(L, status);
return 1;
/* symlink */
static int zst_symlink(lua_State *L)
int status;
const char *old = lua_tostring(L, 1);
const char *new = lua_tostring(L, 2);
status = symlink(old, new);
lua_pushnumber(L, status);
return 1;
/* rmdir */
static int zst_rmdir(lua_State *L)
int status;
status = rmdir(lua_tostring(L, 1));
lua_pushnumber(L, status);
return 1;
/* rename */
static int zst_rename(lua_State *L)
int status;
const char *old = lua_tostring(L, 1);
const char *new = lua_tostring(L, 2);
status = rename(old, new);
lua_pushnumber(L, status);
return 1;
/* remove */
static int zst_remove(lua_State *L)
int status;
const char *filename = lua_tostring(L, 1);
status = remove(filename);
lua_pushnumber(L, status);
return 1;
/* chown */
static int zst_chown(lua_State *L)
int status;
const char *filename = lua_tostring(L, 1);
uid_t owner = lua_tonumber(L, 2);
gid_t group = lua_tonumber(L, 3);
status = chown(filename, owner, group);
lua_pushnumber(L, status);
return 1;
/* chmod */
static int zst_chmod(lua_State *L)
int status;
const char *filename = lua_tostring(L, 1);
mode_t mode = lua_tonumber(L, 2);
status = chmod(filename, mode);
lua_pushnumber(L, status);
return 1;
/* get_current_dir_name */
static int zst_getcwd(lua_State *L)
char *dir;
dir = get_current_dir_name();
lua_pushstring(L, dir);
return 1;
int luaopen_general(lua_State *L)
lua_register(L,"zst_exec", zst_exec);
lua_register(L,"zst_mkdir", zst_mkdir);
lua_register(L,"zst_symlink", zst_symlink);
lua_register(L,"zst_rmdir", zst_rmdir);
lua_register(L,"zst_rename", zst_rename);
lua_register(L,"zst_remove", zst_remove);
lua_register(L,"zst_chown", zst_chown);
lua_register(L,"zst_chmod", zst_chmod);
lua_register(L,"zst_getcwd", zst_getcwd);
return 0;
Ugggg lost all the formating in that.
If you cant make heads or tails of the above you can view it on my google code wiki http://code.google.com/p/zester/wiki/Lua_C
Last edited by zester (2011-09-13 18:20:07)