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Lua seems to be widespread in games, but in fact is a very nice tool to make day-to-day apps user-extendible (with neovim and mpv being a couple of examples).

aa-jv 4y ago
I have built professional, scientifically sensitive, important apps with Lua. A recent project involved doing fluidic particulate quantification in an embedded, field portable instrument, which was delivered on time and under-budget - and represented a major revenue source for the customer (40 million dollars worth of orders) when it was shipped. The client was told it "could not be done" with the hardware as specified - not only did we do it with Lua, it has since been widely recognized as the most advanced bit of architecture the company has implemented for its instruments .. Lua is not just for games. Games are a good place to learn Lua, though.
- rleigh 4y ago
  Out of interest, is there any public information about your project? I am currently prototyping a Lua environment for instrument control in a regulated environment. I've added several customisations and safety mitigations to make it suitable for use, and it works beautifully. One thing I would like is to be able to showcase examples of use in other products. If you, or anyone else, have any examples I could point people to, to demonstrate existing real-world uses of Lua, that would be really appreciated.
  - aa-jv 4y ago
    There isn't any public info about the architecture of the system, but you can find product info here: https://www.spectrosci.com/product/fieldlab-58---portable-oil-lab https://www.spectrosci.com/product/fieldlab-58---portable-oi...
    - rleigh 4y ago
      Many thanks for the reference, this looks like a really interesting device, and it has quite a lot of similarities with the type of system I'm working on (albeit in a completely different application domain).
      - aa-jv 4y ago
        You're welcome - what are you working on, may I ask? Common interests, and all ..
        rleigh 4y ago
        In vitro medical diagnostics, using microfluidics, fluorescence spectroscopy and imaging.
        aa-jv 4y ago
        Neat. Would love to know more about how you're using Lua in that context ..
        rleigh 4y ago
        Currently just starting with a very simple prototype, which is a very basic action scheduler for running analysis workflows. It will become more capable as more system functionality is wrapped and exposed. That ease of wrapping and sandboxing the Lua environment is one of the features I really like about Lua.
eliasdaler 4y ago
Agreed. I see many programs use JS and Python for plugin APIs, while Lua might be a better choice in many cases. It's much simpler and easier to pick up even if you're new to the language.

aa-jv 4y ago

I have built professional, scientifically sensitive, important apps with Lua. A recent project involved doing fluidic particulate quantification in an embedded, field portable instrument, which was delivered on time and under-budget - and represented a major revenue source for the customer (40 million dollars worth of orders) when it was shipped. The client was told it "could not be done" with the hardware as specified - not only did we do it with Lua, it has since been widely recognized as the most advanced bit of architecture the company has implemented for its instruments .. Lua is not just for games. Games are a good place to learn Lua, though.

rleigh 4y ago
Out of interest, is there any public information about your project? I am currently prototyping a Lua environment for instrument control in a regulated environment. I've added several customisations and safety mitigations to make it suitable for use, and it works beautifully. One thing I would like is to be able to showcase examples of use in other products. If you, or anyone else, have any examples I could point people to, to demonstrate existing real-world uses of Lua, that would be really appreciated.
- aa-jv 4y ago
  There isn't any public info about the architecture of the system, but you can find product info here: https://www.spectrosci.com/product/fieldlab-58---portable-oil-lab https://www.spectrosci.com/product/fieldlab-58---portable-oi...
  - rleigh 4y ago
    Many thanks for the reference, this looks like a really interesting device, and it has quite a lot of similarities with the type of system I'm working on (albeit in a completely different application domain).
    - aa-jv 4y ago
      You're welcome - what are you working on, may I ask? Common interests, and all ..
      - rleigh 4y ago
        In vitro medical diagnostics, using microfluidics, fluorescence spectroscopy and imaging.
        aa-jv 4y ago
        Neat. Would love to know more about how you're using Lua in that context ..
        rleigh 4y ago
        Currently just starting with a very simple prototype, which is a very basic action scheduler for running analysis workflows. It will become more capable as more system functionality is wrapped and exposed. That ease of wrapping and sandboxing the Lua environment is one of the features I really like about Lua.

eliasdaler 4y ago

Agreed. I see many programs use JS and Python for plugin APIs, while Lua might be a better choice in many cases. It's much simpler and easier to pick up even if you're new to the language.