[NTG-context] Re: [Aleph] OpenType-to-TeX and other musings...

[Hans Hagen]

Idris Samawi Hamid wrote:

> On Sun, 18 Dec 2005 07:16:31 -0700, Hans Hagen <pragma at wxs.nl> wrote:
>
>>> In the short run, for Aleph's purposes, these declarations and   
>>> much/most/all of the metainfo can be treated as "suggestions" for 
>>> the  otp  designer to consider in implementing things. There is no 
>>> need to  treat  them as something "holy".
>>
>>
>> in the near future pdftex will provide open type as well as hooks 
>> for  input processing using lua, so you may as well end up rewriting 
>> your  otp's in a more friendly language
>
>
> At the risk of getting off topic: I know nothing about lua-) What 
> makes it  such a great tool? Why not just use, e.g., Ruby (less 
> languages for me to  learn->)?

well, there is google ...

lua is

- small, so no huge overhead and expanding library base
- clever enough for the job needed
- a well designed embedded language
- fun

>
> But you are quite right: the otp language is a real bear...

indeed, let'd get rid of it -)

Hans