Lua 'end' syntax (1 Viewer)

[225559]

Is there any way to make the Lua end syntax more similar to Ada's end syntax? e.g.: end if, end loop, end Function_Name

I'm currently using comments to emulate the Ada syntax, e.g.:

function Get_Max (A, B)
   if (A > B) then
      return A;
   else
      return B;
   end -- if
end -- Get_Max

print (Get_Max (3, 2))

The Ada equivalent is:

with Ada.Text_IO; use Ada.Text_IO;

procedure Main
is
    function Get_Max (A, B : Integer) return Integer
    is
    begin
        if A > B then
            return A;
        else
            return B;
        end if;
    end Get_Max;
begin
    Put_Line (Integer'Image (Get_Max (3, 2)));
end Main;

It looks like the Lua syntax was very much inspired by Ada. Hence, I don't understand why they didn't copy the end syntax as well? It makes the code much more readable.

 

[dinsdale247]

That's definitely a question for the Lua-L mailing list. I'd like to know what the Lua team says.

 

[stetre]

Lua syntax was more inspired by Modula, according to this paper by the Lua triumvirate: The Evolution of Lua (pdf).

This answers half the question, I think. As for how one could emulate Ada's syntax, I honestly don't see how, but of course this doesn't mean much.

 

[dinsdale247]

Lua syntax was more inspired by Modula, according to this paper by the Lua triumvirate: The Evolution of Lua (pdf).

This answers half the question, I think. As for how one could emulate Ada's syntax, I honestly don't see how, but of course this doesn't mean much.

Thanks for the link. I had seen that document once before and lost track of it.

 

[coal]

Lua syntax was more inspired by Modula, according to this paper by the Lua triumvirate: The Evolution of Lua (pdf).

This answers half the question, I think. As for how one could emulate Ada's syntax, I honestly don't see how, but of course this doesn't mean much.

You could write a grammar using the actual Lua EBNF specification as reference, parse the syntax and transpile into a vanilla Lua equivalent.

The Lua grammar is very (very) simple; it extends to just 56 lines of code, compared to other languages where the grammar can be thousands of lines long. There's an ECMAScript grammar for ANTLR which is 1,500+ lines available here.

For comparison, the Lua EBNF specification for 5.1 is also available in the Lua reference manual.

 

[GavinW]

comment
For the sake of two hyphens you can have your cake and eat it
end -- comment