Since I’m having untracable issues with Lua due to its API and lackluster documentation, I’ve decided to drop it from my game engine (PixelPerfectEngine) in favor of some easier to use alternatives.
What I need is:
- open source
- small footprint even if it at the cost of some complexity (I need it as a scripting engine, not as a replacement for compiled application languages)
- integer support (I don’t care if I could just round it on the backend)
- C or C++ ABI
- can be embedded into a software (yes, there are people that suggest you to use janky solutions like passing data in files and command line)
Even a better Lua implementation would suffice, and if I had the time, I would port the official one to D (my main language), while getting rid of the godawful stack method of control.
I have used DukTape in the past, it is an ECMAScript (javascript) implementation. The API is amazing, very consistent parameter and naming schemes, uses a stack based approach (feels like a better version of how lua goes about things). It is designed to be embedded. Documentation for the API is some of the best you will see, lots of good examples. It even has a debugger that you can hook into.