Help:Lua debugging: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 12:37, 27 February 2013

Revision as of 00:17, 2 March 2013

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{{WikiProject Lua/header}}

This help-page, '''Help:Lua debugging''', explains issues of writing [[Lua script]] and [[debugging]] the [[source code]], to remove errors or improve performance. Because Lua is a "semi-compiled" interpreted language, it does not prescreen for all common syntax errors, nor detect misspelled variables, which are only found at runtime when seeing the "<font color=maroon>Script error</font>" message. Also, unlike [[wp:template]]s which can be run interactively by edit-preview, the Lua script must be tested by show-preview (or run preview) of another page which uses a template which <code>#invoke</code>'s the Lua module being edited. In general, make one small change at a time, do a run show-preview, and save after a few good changes to have a version to restore, in case terrible errors occur after numerous later changes. Note: the saving of a working copy can be done to an offline text file, rather than saving each version into the module revisions.