Terra: A low-level counterpart to Lua

https://www.hnsearch.com/search#request/submissions&q=terra+...

Still, it's interesting and relevant, and I hadn't seen it before, so thanks for posting.

     Terra also includes for loop. This example counts from 0 up to but not including 10:  
       
     for i = 0,10 do  
         C.printf("%d\n",i)  
     end  
       
     This is different from Lua’s behavior (which is inclusive of 10) since Terra uses 0-based indexing and pointer arithmetic in contrast with Lua’s 1-based indexing. Ideally, Lua and Terra would use the same indexing rules. However, Terra code needs to frequently do pointer arithmetic and interface with C code both of which are cumbersome with 1-based indexing. Alternatively, patching Lua to make it 0-based would make the flavor of Lua bundled with Terra incompatible with existing Lua code.  
       
     Lua also has a for loop that operates using iterators. This is not yet implemented (NYI) in Terra, but a version will be added eventually.  
       
     The loop may also specify an option step parameter:  
       
     for i = 0,10,2 do  
         c.printf("%d\n",i) --0, 2, 4, ...  
     end

But what I have in mind is just a little different. I want explicit type declaration, and I don't want to type "->".

So, something more of this character:

    void chant( string thing, int times ):
        for int i in range( times ):
            print( "$thing $i" )

I'm pretty fond of Lua just the way it is as well, but I'm picky and stubborn and idealistic. I keep telling myself not to think about it, but I can't help but daydream about writing a language. I think Terra presents a fair opportunity to get it out of my system.