The `lulu` Library

Project Overview

lulu is a collection of Lua utility modules and classes. It includes a full-featured Array class, an Enum class, and a variety of other utility functions and extensions.

It also includes a copy of Scribe, a Lua module for converting Lua objects to strings that can gracefully handle recursive and shared tables.

Available Modules

Module	Purpose
`lulu.Array`	A full-featured `Array` class for Lua.
`lulu.Enum`	An `Enum` class for Lua.
`lulu.callable`	Building “anonymous” functions from strings etc.
`lulu.messages`	Informational and error messages used throughout `lulu`.
`lulu.scribe`	Convert Lua objects to strings. Gracefully handles recursive and shared tables.
`lulu.table`	Lua `table` extensions that work on any table.
`lulu.string`	Lua `string` extensions that are added to all string objects.
`lulu.xpeg`	An extended `lpeg` module with predefined patterns and useful functions.
`lulu.paths`	Rudimentary path query methods.
`lulu.types`	Type-checking methods.

Installation & Use

lulu has no dependencies. Copy the lulu directory and start using it.

Released versions will also be uploaded to the luarocks repository, so you should be able to install them using:

luarocks install lulu

Usage

Assuming your path allows it, you can require('lulu.lulu') and have access to all the modules:

require('lulu.lulu')
ENUM 'Suit' {
    Clubs    = { abbrev = 'C', color = 'black', icon = '♣', ordinal = 0 },
    Diamonds = { abbrev = 'D', color = 'red',   icon = '♦', ordinal = 1 },
    Hearts   = { abbrev = 'H', color = 'red',   icon = '♥', ordinal = 2 },
    Spades   = { abbrev = 'S', color = 'black', icon = '♠', ordinal = 3 }
}
scribe.putln("%T", Suit)

That will output:

Suit:
 [0] Clubs = { abbrev = "C", color = "black", icon = "♣" },
 [1] Diamonds = { abbrev = "D", color = "red", icon = "♦" },
 [2] Hearts = { abbrev = "H", color = "red", icon = "♥" },
 [3] Spades = { abbrev = "S", color = "black", icon = "♠" }

Alternatively, you can access the modules individually:

local scribe = require('lulu.scribe')
local Array  = require('lulu.Array')
local array  = Array(1, 2, 3)
array:transform("*", 10)
scribe.putln("array = %t", array)

This will output:

array = [ 10, 20, 30 ]

Documentation

Here is a link to the project’s source code repository.
This documentation site was constructed using the static website generator Quarto.

Acknowledgements

This library owes a lot to Penlight and the many questions that have been answered over the years on sites like StackOverflow and Reddit.

Contact

You can contact me by email