Re: GDB and scripting languages - which

Daniel Jacobowitz
2007-02-10T20:33:16Z

On Sat, Feb 10, 2007 at 02:28:09PM +0200, Eli Zaretskii wrote:
> > Date: Sat, 13 Jan 2007 10:31:51 +0200
> > From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org>
> > CC: gdb@sourceware.org
> >
> > I think adding Python would be a useful first step. It could be the
> > last, or we could later consider Guile as well.
>
> On second thought, what about Lua (http://www.lua.org/)? It looks
> like a language designed specifically for extending software packages.
>
> (Sorry for answering after such a long delay.)

Jim wrote:

> Python has more momentum than Guile in almost any way one might
> measure it:

> - number of users who are familiar with it
> - body of large programs written in it
> - number of modules available for reuse
> - number of programs embedding it
> - number of books available for learning it

I found that very persuasive, and it applies to Lua, though not as
strongly - I see a bit more done with Lua than with Guile, but it
doesn't compare to Python. Also, I know Python, and I think a few
others on this list do - I don't know if anyone here knows Lua.

I spent a while reading the LuaVersusPython wiki page on the Lua Users
wiki. I can't say that I found it very persuasive in either direction
for our situation. Getting Python to work at all is likely to be more
trouble, but not much more trouble, and I'm willing to take care of
that myself. And GDB isn't a lightweight program, which is where much
of Lua's advantage seems to be.

Anyway, just my two cents.

--
Daniel Jacobowitz
CodeSourcery