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diff --git a/README.md b/README.md index 06c4f47..c81a077 100644 --- a/README.md +++ b/README.md @@ -1,13 +1,85 @@ -# Cataract - an environment for end-user programming in Lua 5.1 +# Teliva - an environment for end-user programming -"Enable all people to modify the software they use in the course of using it." --- https://futureofcoding.org/episodes/033.html +> “Enable all people to modify the software they use in the course of using it.” +> — https://futureofcoding.org/episodes/033.html -"What if we, and all computer users, could reach in and modify our favorite apps?" --- https://www.inkandswitch.com/end-user-programming +> “What if we, and all computer users, could reach in and modify our favorite apps?” +> — https://www.inkandswitch.com/end-user-programming -"Software must be as easy to change as it is to use it" --- https://malleable.systems +> “Software must be as easy to change as it is to use.” +> — https://malleable.systems + +## What's this, then? + +An extremely naïve, [brutalist](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brutalist_architecture) +attempt at packaging up simple Lua (5.1) apps with all the stuff needed to +edit and build them. + +``` +git clone https://github.com/akkartik/teliva +cd teliva +make linux +src/teliva hanoi.teliva +``` + +Here's an example app (the [Tower of Hanoi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_Hanoi)): + +<img alt='screenshot of Teliva running the Towers of Hanoi' src='doc/hanoi.png'> + +The idea is that no matter what app you run, you are always guaranteed access +to a hotkey (currently `ctrl-e`) to edit its sources. + +<img alt='screenshot of Teliva editing the Towers of Hanoi' src='doc/hanoi-edit.png'> + +Save (`ctrl-s`) and quit (`ctrl-x`) to restart the app with the new sources. + +Over time I hope to improve the experience for error messages, failing tests, +undoing changes and so on. The emphasis will be on maximizing hackability +rather than functionality. I plan to be extremely parsimonious in taking on +further dependencies. It should need just a Linux (or maybe some other Unix?) +kernel, a C compiler, 12kLoC of Lua in this repo, ncurses. + +## Why Lua? + +It's reputedly the fastest interpreted language per line of implementation +code. + +## Will it run any Lua program? + +Not quite. This approach doesn't make sense for batch programs, I think. I +also don't know how to obtain a simple, shallow Graphics stack, so there's no +support for graphics at the moment. Teliva initializes the ncurses library by +default, so apps should assume they have access to a text-mode window for +printing text to, and a keyboard for reading unbuffered keystrokes from. +Compare `hanoi.teliva` with `hanoi.lua` to get a sense for what changes are +needed. My plan is to disable support for certain Lua libraries as I gain +experience programming in this way. + +I want to provide sandboxed access to system resources (file system, network, +etc.) which will likely create incompatibilities with the standard library. +I'm disinclined to try to ‘improve’ on Lua syntax, however. It's +not my favorite, but it's good enough. + +It's also not tested much yet. This is my first time programming either in Lua +or within Lua. Bug reports most appreciated. + +## What's with the name? + +Teliva is the Tamil root for ‘clear’. Very much aspirational. + +## Credits + +This repository is an unholy union of: +* The [Lua](https://www.lua.org) 5.1 programming language. + ([Documentation](https://www.lua.org/pil/contents.html)) +* The [Ncurses](https://tldp.org/HOWTO/NCURSES-Programming-HOWTO) library for + building text-mode user interfaces. ([Alternative documentation](https://tldp.org/LDP/lpg-0.4.pdf)) +* The [Lcurses](https://github.com/lcurses/lcurses) library providing Lua + bindings for Ncurses. ([Documentation](http://lcurses.github.io/lcurses)) +* The [Kilo](https://github.com/antirez/kilo) text editor. ([With a fantastic + walk-through.](https://viewsourcecode.org/snaptoken/kilo)) + +Send all praise to them, brickbats to [me](http://akkartik.name/contact). # README for Lua 5.1 @@ -41,3 +113,29 @@ Science of PUC-Rio (the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil). For more information about the authors, see http://www.lua.org/authors.html . + +# README for Kilo + +Kilo is a small text editor in less than 1K lines of code (counted with cloc). + +A screencast is available here: https://asciinema.org/a/90r2i9bq8po03nazhqtsifksb + +Usage: kilo `<filename>` + +Keys: + + CTRL-S: Save + CTRL-Q: Quit + CTRL-F: Find string in file (ESC to exit search, arrows to navigate) + +Kilo does not depend on any library (not even curses). It uses fairly standard +VT100 (and similar terminals) escape sequences. The project is in alpha +stage and was written in just a few hours taking code from my other two +projects, load81 and linenoise. + +People are encouraged to use it as a starting point to write other editors +or command line interfaces that are more advanced than the usual REPL +style CLI. + +Kilo was written by Salvatore Sanfilippo aka antirez and is released +under the BSD 2 clause license. |