Awesome

A Small but Useful Lua library

The Lua standard library is deliberately kept small, based on the abstract platform defined by the C89 standard. It is intended as a base for further development, so Lua programmers tend to collect small useful functions for their projects.

Microlight is an attempt at 'library golf', by analogy to the popular nerd sport 'code golf'. The idea here is to try capture some of these functions in one place and document them well enough so that it is easier to use them than to write them yourself.

This library is intended to be a 'extra light' version of Penlight, which has nearly two dozen modules and hundreds of functions.

In Lua, anything beyond the core involves 'personal' choice, and this list of functions does not claim to aspire to 'canonical' status. It emerged from discussion on the Lua Mailing list started by Jay Carlson, and was implemented by myself and Dirk Laurie.

Strings

THere is no built-in way to show a text representation of a Lua table, which can be frustrating for people first using the interactive prompt. Microlight provides tstring. Please note that globally redefining tostring is not a good idea for Lua application development! This trick is intended to make experimation more satisfying:

> require 'ml'.import()
> tostring = tstring
> = {10,20,name='joe'}
{10,20,name="joe"}

The Lua string functions are particularly powerful but there are some common functions missing that tend to come up in projects frequently. There is table.concat for building a string out of a table, but no table.split to break a string into a table.

>  = split('hello dolly')
{"hello","dolly"}
> = split('one,two',',')
{"one","two"}

The second argument is a string pattern that defaults to spaces.

Although it's not difficult to do string interpolation in Lua, there's no little function to do it directly. So Microlight provides ml.expand.

> = expand("hello $you, from $me",{you='dolly',me='joe'})
hello dolly, from joe

expand also understands the alternative ${var} and may also be given a function, just like string.gsub. (But pick one or the other consistently.)

Lua string functions match using string patterns, which are a powerful subset of proper regular expressions: they contain 'magic' characters like '.','$' etc which you need to escape before using. escape is used when you wish to match a string literally:

> = ('woo%'):gsub(escape('%'),'hoo')
"woohoo"   1
> = split("1.2.3",escape("."))
{"1","2","3"}

Files and Paths

Although access is available on most platforms, it's not part of the standard, (which is why it's spelt _access on Windows). So to test for the existance of a file, you need to attempt to open it. So the exist function is easy to write:

function ml.exists (filename)
    local f = io.open(filename)
    if not f then
        return nil
    else
        f:close()
        return filename
    end
end

The return value is not a simple true or false; it returns the filename if it exists so we can easily find an existing file out of a group of candidates:

> = exists 'README' or exists 'readme.txt' or exists 'readme.md'
"readme.md"

Lua is good at slicing and dicing text, so a common strategy is to read all of a not-so-big file and process the string. This is the job of readfile. For instance, this returns the first 128 bytes of the file opened in binary mode:

> txt = readfile('readme.md',true):sub(1,128)

Note I said bytes, not characters, since strings can contain any byte sequence.

If readfile can't open a file, or can't read from it, it will return nil and an error message. This is the pattern followed by io.open and many other Lua functions; it is considered bad form to raise an error for a routine problem.

Breaking up paths into their components is done with splitpath and splitext:

> = splitpath(path)
"/path/to/dogs" "bonzo.txt"
> = splitext(path)
"/path/to/dogs/bonzo"   ".txt"
> = splitpath 'frodo.txt'
""      "frodo.txt"
> = splitpath '/usr/'
"/usr"  ""
> = splitext '/usr/bin/lua'
"/usr/bin/lua"  ""
>

These functions return two strings, one of which may be the empty string (rather than nil). On Windows, they use both forward- and back-slashes, on Unix only forward slashes.

Inserting and Extending

Most of the Microlight functions work on Lua tables. Although these may be both arrays and hashmaps, generally we tend to use them as one or the other. From now on, we'll use array and map as shorthand terms for tables

update adds key/value pairs to a map, and extend appends an array to an array; they are two complementary ways to add multiple items to a table in a single operation.

> a = {one=1,two=2}
> update(a,{three=3,four=4})
> = a
{one=1,four=4,three=3,two=2}
> t = {10,20,30}
> extend(t,{40,50})
> = t
{10,20,30,40,50}

As from version 1.1, both of these functions take an arbitrary number of tables.

To 'flatten' a table, just unpack it and use extend:

> pair = {{1,2},{3,4}}
> = extend({},unpack(pair))
{1,2,3,4}

extend({},t) would just be a shallow copy of a table.

More precisely, extend takes an indexable and writeable object, where the index runs from 1 to #O with no holes, and starts adding new elements at O[#O+1]. Simularly, the other arguments are indexable but need not be writeable. These objects are typically tables, but don't need to be. You can exploit the guarantee that extend always goes sequentially from 1 to #T, and make the first argument an object:

> obj = setmetatable({},{ __newindex = function(t,k,v) print(v) end })
> extend(obj,{1,2,3})
1
2
3

To insert multiple values into a position within an array, use insertvalues. It works like table.insert, except that the third argument is an array of values. If you do want to overwrite values, then use true for the fourth argument:

> t = {10,20,30,40,50}
> insertvalues(t,2,{11,12})
> = t
{10,11,12,20,30,40,50}
> insertvalues(t,3,{2,3},true)
> = t
{10,11,2,3,30,40,50}

(Please note that the original table is modified by these functions.)

update' works like extend`. except that all the key value pairs from the input tables are copied into the first argument. Keys may be overwritten by subsequent tables.

> t = {}
> update(t,{one=1},{ein=1},{one='ONE'})
> = t
{one="ONE",ein=1}

import is a specialized version of update; if the first argument is nil then it's assumed to be the global table. If no tables are provided, it brings in the ml table itself (hence the lazy require "ml".import() idiom).

If the arguments are strings, then we try to require them. So this brings in LuaFileSystem and imports lfs into the global table. So it's a lazy way to do a whole bunch of requires. A module 'package.mod' will be brought in as mod. Note that the second form actually does bring all of lpeg's functions in.

> import(nil,'lfs')
> import(nil,require 'lpeg')

Extracting and Mapping

The opposite operation to extending is extracting a number of items from a table.

There's sub, which works just like string.sub and is the equivalent of list slicing in Python:

> numbers = {10,20,30,40,50}
> = sub(numbers,1,1)
{10}
> = sub(numbers,2)
{20,30,40,50}
> = sub(numbers,1,-2)
{10,20,30,40}

indexby indexes a table by an array of keys:

> = indexby(numbers,{1,4})
{10,40}
> = indexby({one=1,two=2,three=3},{'three','two'})
{[3,2}

Here is the old standby imap, which makes a new array by applying a function to the original elements:

> words = {'one','two','three'}
> = imap(string.upper,words)
{"ONE","TWO","THREE"}
> s = {'10','x','20'}
> ns = imap(tonumber,s)
> = ns
{10,false,20}

imap must always return an array of the same size - if the function returns nil, then we avoid leaving a hole in the array by using false as a placeholder.

Another popular function indexof does a linear search for a value and returns the 1-based index, or nil if not successful:

> = indexof(numbers,20)
2
> = indexof(numbers,234)
nil

This function takes an optional third argument, which is a custom equality function.

In general, you want to match something more than just equality. ifind will return the first value that satisfies the given function.

> s = {'x','10','20','y'}
> = ifind(s,tonumber)
"10"

The standard function tonumber returns a non-nil value, so the corresponding value is returned - that is, the string. To get all the values that match, use ifilter:

> = ifilter(numbers,tonumber)
{"10","20"}

There is a useful hybrid between imap and ifilter called imapfilter which is particularly suited to Lua use, where a function commonly returns either something useful, or nothing. (Phillip Janda originally suggested calling this transmogrify, since no-one has preconceptions about it, except that it's a cool toy for imaginative boys).

> = imapfilter(tonumber,{'one',1,'f',23,2})
{1,23,2}

collect makes a array out of an iterator. 'collectuntilcan be given a custom predicate andcollectntakes up to a maximum number of values, which is useful for iterators that never terminate. (Note that we need to pass it either a proper iterator, likepairs, or a function or exactly one function - which isn't the case with math.random`)

> s = 'my dog ate your homework'
> words = collect(s:gmatch '%a+')
> = words
{"my","dog","ate","your","homework"}
> R = function() return math.random() end
> = collectn(3,R)
{0.0012512588885159,0.56358531449324,0.19330423902097}
> lines = collectuntil(4,io.lines())
one
two
three
four
> = lines
{"one","two","three","four"}

A simple utility to sort standard input looks like this:

require 'ml'.import()
lines = collect(io.lines())
table.sort(lines)
print(table.concat(lines,'\n'))

Another standard function that can be used here is string.gmatch.

LuaFileSystem defines an iterator over directory contents. collect(lfs.dir(D)) gives you an array of all files in directory D.

Finally, removerange removes a range of values from an array, and takes the same arguments as sub. Unlike the filters filters, it works in-place.

Sets and Maps

indexof is not going to be your tool of choice for really big tables, since it does a linear search. Lookup on Lua hash tables is faster, if we can get the data into the right shape. invert turns a array of values into a table with those values as keys:

> m = invert(numbers)
> = m
{[20]=2,[10]=1,[40]=4,[30]=3,[50]=5}
> = m[20]
2
> = m[30]
3
> = m[25]
nil
> m = invert(words)
> = m
{one=1,three=3,two=2}

So from a array we get a reverse lookup map. This is also exactly what we want from a set: fast membership test and unique values.

Sets don't particularly care about the actual value, as long as it evaluates as true or false, hence:

> = issubset(m,{one=true,two=true})
true

makemap takes another argument and makes up a table where the keys come from the first array and the values from the second array:

> = makemap({'a','b','c'},{1,2,3})
{a=1,c=3,b=2}

Higher-order Functions

Functions are first-class values in Lua, so functions may manipulate them, often called 'higher-order' functions.

By callable we either mean a function or an object which has a __call metamethod. The callable function checks for this case.

Function composition is often useful:

> printf = compose(io.write,string.format)
> printf("the answer is %d\n",42)
the answer is 42

bind1 and bind2 specialize functions by creating a version that has one less argument. bind1 gives a function where the first argument is bound to some value. This can be used to pass methods to functions expecting a plain function. In Lua, obj:f() is shorthand for obj.f(obj,...). Just using a dot is not enough, since there is no implicit binding of the self argument. This is precisely what bind1 can do:

> ewrite = bind1(io.stderr.write,io.stderr)
> ewrite 'hello\n'

We want a logging function that writes a message to standard error with a line feed; just bind the second argument to '\n':

> log = bind2(ewrite,'\n')
> log 'hello'
hello

Note that sub(t,1) does a simple array copy:

> copy = bind2(sub,1)
> t = {1,2,3}
> = copy(t)
{1,2,3}

It's easy to make a 'predicate' for detecting empty or blank strings:

> blank = bind2(string.match,'^%s*$')
> = blank ''
""
> = blank '  '
"  "
> = blank 'oy vey'
nil

I put 'predicate' in quotes because it's again not classic true/false; Lua actually only developed false fairly late in its career. Operationally, this is a fine predicate because nil matches as 'false' and any string matches as 'true'.

This pattern generates a whole family of classification functions, e.g. hex (using '%x+'), upcase ('%u+'), iden ('%a[%w_]*') and so forth. You can keep the binding game going (after all, bind2 is just a function like any other.)

> matcher = bind1(bind2,string.match)
> hex = matcher '^%x+$'

Predicates are particularly useful for ifind and ifilter. It's now easy to filter out strings from a array that match blank or hex, for instance.

It is not uncommon for Lua functions to return multiple useful values; sometimes the one you want is the second value - this is what take2 does:

> p = lfs.currentdir()
> = p
"C:\\Users\\steve\\lua\\Microlight"
> = splitpath(p)
"C:\\Users\\steve\\lua" "Microlight"
> basename = take2(splitpath)
> = basename(p)
"Microlight"
> extension = take2(splitext)
> = extension 'bonzo.dog'
".dog"

There is a pair of functions map2fun and fun2map which convert indexable objects into callables and vice versa. Say I have a table of key/value pairs, but an API requires a function - use map2fun. Alternatively, the API might want a lookup table and you only have a lookup function. Say we have an array of objects with a name field. The find method will give us an object with a particular name:

> obj = objects:find ('X.name=Y','Alfred')
{name='Afred',age=23}
> by_name = function(name) return objects:find('X.name=Y',name) end
> lookup = fun2map(by_name)
> = lookup.Alfred
{name='Alfred',age=23}

Now if you felt particularly clever and/or sadistic, that anonymous function could be written like so: (note the different quotes needed to get a nested string lambda):

by_name = bind1('X:find("X.name==Y",Y)',objects)

Classes

Lua and Javascript have two important things in common; objects are associative arrays, with sugar so that t.key == t['key']; there is no built-in class mechanism. This causes a lot of (iniital) unhappiness. It's straightforward to build a class system, and so it is reinvented numerous times in incompatible ways.

class works as expected:

Animal = ml.class()
Animal.sound = '?'

function Animal:_init(name)
    self.name = name
end

function Animal:speak()
    return self._class.sound..' I am '..self.name
end

Cat = class(Animal)
Cat.sound = 'meow'

felix = Cat('felix')

assert(felix:speak() == 'meow I am felix')
assert(felix._base == Animal)
assert(Cat.classof(felix))
assert(Animal.classof(felix))

It creates a table (what else?) which will contain the methods; if there's a base class, then that will be copied into the table. This table becomes the metatable of each new instance of that class, with __index pointing to the metatable itself. If obj.key is not found, then Lua will attempt to look it up in the class. In this way, each object does not have to carry references to all of its methods, which gets inefficient.

The class is callable, and when called it returns a new object; if there is an _init method that will be called to do any custom setup; if not then the base class constructor will be called.

All classes have a _class field pointing to itself (which is how Animal.speak gets its polymorphic behaviour) and a classof function.

Array Class

Since Lua 5.1, the string functions can be called as methods, e.g. s:sub(1,2). People commonly would like this convenience for tables as well. But Lua tables are building blocks; to build abstract data types you need to specialize your tables. So ml provides a Array class:

local Array = ml.class()

-- A constructor can return a _specific_ object
function Array:_init(t)
    if not t then return nil end  -- no table, make a new one
    if getmetatable(t)==Array then  -- was already a Array: copy constructor!
        t = ml.sub(t,1)
    end
    return t
end

function Array:map(f,...) return Array(ml.imap(f,self,...)) end

Note that if a constructor does return a value, then it becomes the new object. This flexibility is useful if you want to wrap existing objects.

We can't just add imap, because the function signature is wrong; the first argument is the function and it returns a plain jane array.

But we can add methods to the class directly if the functions have the right first argument, and don't return anything:

ml.import(Array,{
    -- straight from the table library
    concat=table.concat,sort=table.sort,insert=table.insert,
    remove=table.remove,append=table.insert,
...
})

ifilter and sub are almost right, but they need to be wrapped so that they return Arrays as expected.

> words = Array{'frodo','bilbo','sam'}
> = words:sub(2)
{"bilbo","sam"}
> words:sort()
> = words
{"bilbo","frodo","sam"}
> = words:concat ','
"bilbo,frodo,sam"
> = words:filter(string.match,'o$'):map(string.upper)
{"BILBO","FRODO"}

Arrays are easier to use and involve less typing because the table functions are directly available from them. Methods may be chained, which (I think) reads better than the usual functional application order from right to left. For instance, the sort utility discussed above simply becomes:

local Array = require 'ml'.Array
print(Array.collect(io.lines()):sort():concat '\n')

I don't generally recommend putting everything on one line, but it can be done if the urge is strong ;)

The ml table functions are available as methods:

> l = Array.range(10,50,10)
> = l:indexof(30)
3
> = l:indexby {1,3,5}
{10,30,50}
> = l:map(function(x) return x + 1 end)
{11,21,31,41,51}

Lua anonymous functions have a somewhat heavy syntax; three keywords needed to define a short lambda. It would be cool if the shorthand syntax |x| x+1 used by Metalua would make into mainstream Lua, but there seems to be widespread resistance to this little convenience. In the meantime, there are string lambdas. All ml functions taking function args go through function_arg which raises an error if the argument isn't callable. But it will also understand 'X+1' as a shorthand for the above anonymous function. Such strings are expressions containing the placeholder variables X,Y and Z corresponding to the first, second and third arguments.

> A = Array
> a1 = A{1,2}
> a2 = A{10,20}
> = a1:map2('X+Y',a2)
{11,21}

String lambdas are more limited. There's no easy (or efficient) way for them to access local variables like proper functions; they only see the global environment. BUt I consider this a virtue, since they are intended to be 'pure' functions with no side-effects.

Array is a useful class from which to derive more specialized classes, and it has a very useful 'class method' to make adding new methods easy. In this case, we intend to keep strings in this subclass, so it should have appropriate methods for 'bulk operations' using string methods.

Strings = class(Array)

Strings:mappers {  -- NB: note the colon: class method
    upper = string.upper,
    match = string.match,
}

local s = Strings{'one','two','three'}

assert(s:upper() == Strings{'ONE','TWO','THREE'})
assert(s:match '.-e$' == Strings{'one','three'})
assert(s:sub(1,2):upper() == Strings{'ONE','TWO'})

In fact, Array has been designed to be extended. Note that the inherited method sub is actually returning a Strings object, not a vanilla Array. This property is usually known as covariance.

It's useful to remember that there is nothing special about Array methods; they are just functions which take an array-like table as the first argument. Saying Array.map(t,f) where t is some random array-like table or object is fine - but the result will be an Array.

Experiments!

Every library project has a few things which didn't make the final cut, and this is particularly true of Microlight. The ml_properties module allows you to define properties in your classes. This comes from `examples/test.lua':

local props = require 'ml_properties'

local P = class()

-- will be called after setting _props
function P:update (k,v)
    last_set = k
end

-- any explicit setters will be called on construction
function P:set_name (name)
    self.myname = name
end

function P:get_name ()
    last_get = 'name'
    return self.myname
end

-- have to call this after any setters or getters are defined...
props(P,{
    __update = P.update;
    enabled = true,  -- these are default values
    visible = false,
    name = 'foo', -- has both a setter and a getter
})

local p = P()

-- initial state
asserteq (p,{myname="foo",_enabled=true,_visible=false})

p.visible = true

-- P.update fired!
asserteq(last_set,'visible')

ml_range (constributed by Dirk Laurie for this release) returns a function which works like ml.range, except that it returns a Vector class which has element-wise addition and multiplication operators.

ml_module is a Lua 5.2 module constructor which shows off that interesting function ml.import. Here is the example in the distribution:

-- mod52.lua
local _ENV = require 'ml_module' (nil, -- no wholesale access to _G
    'print','assert','os', -- quoted global values brought in
    'lfs', -- not global, so use require()!
    table -- not quoted, import the whole table into the environment!
    )

function format (s)
    local out = {'Hello',s,'at',os.date('%c'),'here is',lfs.currentdir()}
    -- remember table.* has been brought in..
    return concat(out,' ')
end

function message(s)
    print(format(s))
end

-- no, we didn't bring anything else in
assert(setmetatable == nil)

-- NB return the _module_, not the _environment_!
return _M

This uses a 'shadow table' trick; the environment _ENV contains all the imports, plus the exported functions; the actual module _M only contains the exported functions. So it's equivalent to the old-fashioned module('mod',package.seeall) technique, except that there is no way of accessing the environment of the module without using the debug module - which you would never allow into a sandboxed environment anyway.