I want to rewrite a script I did in Python, but I’m not sure if I want to do it in that language. Since Lua is going to appear in Renoise in the future I figured I might get into that.
Should I get this one?: http://code.google.com/p/luaforwindows/
Or should I get a really bare bones version??
What is Lua in Renoise going to be like? Less included libraries and stuff right?
Yes, if you are on windows, use:
http://code.google.com/p/luaforwindows/
Read:
http://www.inf.puc-rio.br/~roberto/pil2/
http://www.lua.org/manual/5.1/
Can’t say much more than that, but Lua on Renoise will be great. 
PS: You are correct, many of those extra libs in the Windows version will not be supported. Renoise will have it’s own API which falls under “extra library” as well as a few Lua enhancements in it’s own multi-platform Lua (i.e you won’t need to download Lua in the future, but rather use something like a Renoise terminal instead). If you stick to the standard Lua manuals, you should be fine.
okay cool, so if I would get these bare bone binaries from http://luabinaries.luaforge.net/download.html that would be better? Is there any XML functionality I can add library wise? that would be useful.
edit: oh and zip handling!
Well, you can add whatever functionality you want, but there’s no guarantee that the functionality will be in Renoise.
If you understand the concept of 3rd party libraries, then I don’t think it’s a big deal, so long as you can accept that Renoise is Core Lua + it’s own API.
Some “new to programming” users may get confused; won’t be able to make the distinction between a library/framework and the language (Cocoa vs OBJ-C comes to mind) but if this is not you then I wouldn’t worry too much.
Thanks, will see how it goes… Can’t wait to get my hands on this terminal thing!
when renoise 2,6 with scripting gets released wil there be some small tutorials for the newbies??
Yes there will be some example code snippets.
However the real LUA basics, you should really look up on the lua.org site itself. We assume you either have looked at it or will do so before you start working with the Renoise LUA API.
To be honnest: I would not recomment LUA to anyone as everydays dynamic languge. It was not made for this. Its a scripting language, extension language, and does a perfect job in this area, like for example in Renoise. But for everything else its not the best choice. Actuall no one ever claimed it would be.
If you need a language to solve some small problems like text parsing and stuff, use Python or anything else that “feels good” to you.
If you think you want to do something for Renoise later on, use LUA - later on. The language won’t be the problem.
Use the right tool for the right job.
i think i will wait and see what the scripting capable renoise guys come up with before i try anything,im sure there will be some nice useble stuff released
Okay that makes sense, but I’ll just stick with this now since I already started. It’s not a complicated script, and maybe I can reuse it inside Renoise later on.
So any ballpark figure on when to expect 2.6?
Yes: In the future.
“It is better to be silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt.”
I remember way back during beta of 2.5, Taktik mentioning 2.6 being released shortly after, somewhere in January, probably be January 2011 now 
Ofcourse not, take your time!
Rest assured: the more time and effort Renoise devs and alphatesters put into 2.6, the more advanced and bugfree will it be. Quite many people are currently waiting for 2.6, but nobody will be happy with a half-baked release.
If we really want to use Renoise’s Lua scripting for attracting more women at the beach this coming summer, we will have to silently wait in the shadows.
FACT: Taktik sucks at estimating time. 
Because he didn’t expected cool things to rise during development that allow more time to write extra’s for it to make it more usable 
But eventually, it has to go into beta, else we won’t get more cool stuff
PS. Lua DSP? 