Contribute

Hello 👋.

Contributions welcome 💋 ❤️.

If you offer pull requests to this code, please use these conventions.

Metatables (just say no)

Sorry, but please don't use metatables. Why? Well, the whole point of this code is make people say "hey, that is so easy I can write it in Rust, Typescript, Python, Julia, Erlang, Ruby, etc, etc...". So this code steers clear of clever LUA constructs that might not easily port.

Classes:

Classes names in camel case, starting with an Upper case char.
Class methods are shown as Class.UPPERCASE (e.g. Class.NEW for constructors).
Instance methods are shown as Class.lowercase(i,...).
Instead of using self, this code uses i and j and k to denote instances.

Code formatting:

Any line that just contains end is joined to the last line.
Where possible, write functions in one-line.
Line width max=80 (soft limit) or 83 (hard limit).
Tabs done with 2 spaces.

Html

If you want a header on the html version of file x.lua then add the file docs/x.md.
Please use the comment idiom --> thing -> comment to type hints from comment strings. Note that Makefile rule for docs/*.html pretty prints such comment idioms.

Type hints:

Type hints are defined in terms of class names or :int,:real, :str,:tab,:bool.
:?type denotes optional arguments.
:[type] denotes list of type.
:[[type]] denotes list of list of type.

Other:

Common LUA routines imported from lib.lua.
Test suite at end (see Go).
Initial help string defines the config options.

Command-line options

If called as a main program, then --xxxx value on the command line updates option xxxx.
Shorthand #1: -x is the same as --xxxx.
Shorthand #2: Boolean options don't use value. Merely mentioning it on the command-line will flip its default.