LuaInterface: Scripting the.NET CLR with Lua

Abstract. We present LuaInterface in this paper, a library for scripting the.NET CLR with Lua. The.NET Common Language Runtime (CLR) aims to provide interoperability among objects written in several different languages. LuaInterface gives Lua the capabilities of a full CLS consumer. The Common Language Specification (CLS) is a subset of the CLR specification, with rules for language interoperability, and CLS consumers are languages that can use CLS-compliant libraries. LuaInterface lets Lua scripts instantiate and use CLR objects, and even create new CLR types. CLR applications may also use LuaInterface to embed a Lua interpreter, using Lua scripts to extend the application. LuaInterface is implemented as a bridge between the Lua interpreter and the CLR. The implementation required no changes to the interpreter, and the level of integration is the same that a Lua compiler would have. 1