Changes:
* 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_* functionst 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)
Lua 5.0.2 is a bugfix release, which contains the following fixes:
src/ldo.c
Attempt to resume running coroutine crashed Lua
src/lgc.c
C functions also may have stacks larger than current top
Userdata to be collected still counted into new GC threshold
src/lgc.h
Userdata to be collected still counted into new GC threshold
src/lparser.c
Syntax `local function' did not increment stack size
src/lvm.c
`pc' address was invalidated when a coroutine was suspended
Count hook might be called without being set
src/lib/lbaselib.c
Buffer overflow for unusual %p representation
Wrong number of returns from chunks loaded from stdin
src/lib/liolib.c
`file.close()' could not be called without arguments
Buffer overflow for unusual %p representation
src/luac/luac.c
Missing lock/unlock
* 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.
Added my own makefiles to create shared versions of the libraries
using bsd.lib.mk.
Changes in Lua itself:
lua/src/lapi.c
lua/src/lstring.c
Fixed a bug in lua_pushuserdata(L, NULL)
lua/src/ldo.c
lua/src/lgc.c
lua/src/lgc.h
Give a good chance for GC before parsing
lua/src/lparser.c
Fixed a bug (did not accept `;' after a `return')
lua/src/lvm.c
Fixed a bug (linehook off by 1)
lua/src/lib/lbaselib.c
Fixed a bug in rawget and rawset (seg. fault if given extra arguments)
Fixed a bug in dostring (identification of precompiled chunks)
