Clarification about Builtins in docs/pages/libraries.md

[stefanos82]

I was reading https://github.com/edubart/nelua-lang/blob/master/docs/pages/libraries.md to see whether string.format() is considered builtin or not and could not distinguish the clarification.

In Lua I can do local name = "stefanos"; print(string.format("My name is %s", name)) and works without the need for calling require; in Nelua I'm forced to use require as it throws error messages.

Can we make clearer which functions are actually builtin and which are not?

A label next to each function will work just fine, like for example require (builtin), string.format() (library)

[edubart]

The string is builtin type, but methods for it are not, because they generate runtime code. In Nelua you usually need to require a module for APIs that generates runtime code, because what runtime to include is the user choice by design.

Can we make clearer which functions are actually builtin and which are not?

The documentation already state what functions are builtin, that is, just the functions from "builtins" section from that page. Any other function or method not there will be only available through a module imported with require. Though many modules like io already requires 'string'. Aside from those builtin functions there are builtin types, like int64, float64, etc, and string is also one of the builtin types, just not its methods.

I know it's not ideal the current situation, it's a very common mistake of new Nelua users to attempt to use string methods while forgetting to do require 'string', and they find that odd and don't like it, but I haven't a good solution for this yet.

[stefanos82]

I see.

Can we add a suggestion like GCC's gives us when we attempt to use a function that its header file has not being included?

[edubart]

Good idea! I will do this!

[edubart]

I've implemented this in latest commit, thanks for the suggestion. Now on attempt to use any global symbol that Nelua standard library provides, the user will get a suggestion on the needed module to require to fix the error.

[stefanos82]

Very nice! Let me check it, I will let you know.

[stefanos82]

Perfect! It works wonders 🥳

[stefanos82]

Question: how linting flag supposed to work?

In my case, should not make sense to throw a list of warnings for missing module(s)?

[stefanos82]

Is --analyze used by default during execution of nelua command?

As far as I can see, the output for nelua --analyze foo.nelua and nelua foo.nelua is exactly the same, that's why I ask.

[edubart]

Is --analyze used by default during execution of nelua command?

Yes, Nelua always has to analyze before compiling, the --analyze just makes the compiler stop after analyzing, so C code generation, binary compilation and execution is not performed with --analyze.

[stefanos82]

Ah OK.

About resolving missing modules, Golang has gopls which is a useful Language Server Protocol (LSP); it helps developers to reduce such issues even further.

I honestly like it when I type something like fmt.Printf() and as soon as I save changes, it adds the missing module on top of my source file.

Maybe such a lightweight mechanism could be added in Nelua without the need for LSP and be used in the form of a flag, something like nelua --resolve-missing-modules? 🤔

[edubart]

Maybe such a lightweight mechanism could be added in Nelua without the need for LSP and be used in the form of a flag, something like nelua --resolve-missing-modules?

The commit 03709e2 does something like that, it will suggest modules to be required when using any method from the standard library.

[stefanos82]

Ah yes, I have already seen that in action after we discussed it back in July.