eLua - Lua for microcontrollers
===============================

*eLua* stands for *Embedded Lua* and the project aims to offer the
full implementation of the http://www.lua.org[Lua Programming
Language] to the embedded world, extending it with specific features
for efficient and portable software embedded development. For more
details please visit the link:http://www.eluaproject.net[project
page].

If you've just downloaded *eLua* and are looking to get started check
out link:http://www.eluaproject.net/en_using.html[using eLua].

General Features
----------------

*eLua* allows you to develop and run Lua programs on a wide variety of
microcontrollers.

Some aspects of eLua are:

* *Transforms hardware into a commodity:* Design and code your products for
  eLua and make them as hardware-independent as possible. Upgrade or
  completely change your hardware in the future and save time and money, using
  the approved source code with little or no modifications.

* *Source code portability:* Like in Lua, you program in C, Lua or a mixture
  of both and your program runs in a wide varied of (sometimes radically
  different) platforms and architectures supported. Full control of the
  platform.: eLua runs on the "bare-metal". There is no Operating System
  between your programs and the microcontroller. Develop on targets: fully
  functional Lua and a dedicated shell on the microcontroller itself. No need
  to install a specific development environment on the PC side, other than a
  serial or ehternet console/terminal emulator. You can also use any text
  editor, save your programs in sd/mmc and other media and use them directly
  in your platforms.

* *Flexible products:* Add modern high level script-language capabilities to
  your projects, resulting in highly adaptable, field-programable and
  reconfigurable designs. Efficient (and cheap!) future evolution to your
  systems.

* *Learn embedded:* Simple interactive and interpreted experimenting cycle.
  Use your desktop programming skills to become an embedded systems developer
  in no time and with a lot of fun.

* *Embedded RAD:* Prototype and experiment on a Rapid Application Develop
  model. Test your ideas directly on the target platforms and cheap
  development kits. No need for simulators or future code adaptations.

* *Ready to use kits:* A big (and growing!) number of Open Source hardware and
  commercially available platforms supported. Prototype cheap and fast and
  design your final hardware later using the produced code.

* *Longevity:* Add user configuration and scripting capabilities to your
  projects, making them adaptable to the always changing contexts of
  industrial processes, evolving engineering, automation standards, field
  optimizations etc...

* *Worry-free Licence:* eLua is free and open-source software and we promote
  it as much as we can. But our MIT licence (the same as Lua's) allows you to
  use eLua in your commercial and private-code products as well. Nothing to
  ask, no royalties to pay, just tell the world you're using eLua.

For more information about the functionality (implemented and planned) in eLua
check link:http://www.eluaproject.net/en_status.html[our status page].

Documentation
-------------

Online documentation can be found on the web for the most recent
release version and development versions in the
link:http://www.eluaproject.net/get-better[get better] section of the
project website.

Project documentation can be generated for the version of the project
associated with this document by following the instructions in the
README.TXT file in the doc directory.


Contacts
--------

eLua authors and main developers can be contacted at:

Bogdan Marinescu: bogdan.marinescu -at- eluaproject -dot- net

Dado Sutter: dadosutter -at- eluaproject -dot- net

James Snyder: jbsnyder -at- eluaproject -dot- net

You are also welcomed to share your questions and suggestions on our
link:http://www.eluaproject.net/get-involved/community-resources[Mail Discussion List]