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Lua-an extensible extension language |
 | | Associative arrays are a powerful language construct; many algorithms are simplified to the point of triviality because the required data structures and algorithms for searching them are implicitly provided by the language [9]. |
 | | Unlike other languages that implement associative arrays, such as AWK [10], Tcl [11], and Perl [12], tables in Lua are not bound to a variable name; instead, they are dynamically created objects that can be manipulated much like pointers in conventional languages. |
 | | Following the philosophy of providing powerful meta mechanisms that allow programmers to build their own extensions, we plan to add simple hooks to the run time system to allow user programs to be informed when important events happen, such as entering or exiting a function, executing a line of user code, etc. |
| www.lua.org /spe.html (6126 words) |
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