Jonathan Fine wrote:

> I'd like to know why LuaTeX embeds Lua in a typesetting program. 
> Perhaps it could instead have extended Lua with a typesetting module.

the history is (and reasons are) mentioned in several articles in user 
group journals as well as in presentations

writing a typesetting module from scratch is a different kind of 
projects; also, we don't want to throw away 30 years of macros and tex 
experience

maybe in 2016 we have reached a point that many aspects of tex have been 
rewritten in more independent c modules that then are glued together by 
lua but it does not change the principle ... it's still 90% tex then

also, our choice for lua, as well as the decisions we make are driven by 
  respect for tex (as it is), lua as it is, the things that the three of 
us have wanted to see in tex for ages and of course fun

> Here's how to embed Lua (in the host program):
>     http://www.lua.org/manual/5.0/manual.html#3
> 
> Here's how to extend Lua (with additional 'builtins'):
>      http://www.lua.org/manual/5.0/manual.html#3.16
> 
> Here's an example of a Lua extension:
>     http://www.tecgraf.puc-rio.br/~diego/professional/luasocket/

we are aware of all those docs

anyhow, in those docs you will read that lua is an extension langauage 
i.e. it extends an existing system

> One of the key difference between embed and extend is that Lua socket 
> "is available to any Lua application once it has been properly 
> initialized by the interpreter in use."

well, that would be true for all games that use lua, editors, adobe 
progs etc ... it makes no sense to link all of them together ... you 
miss the whole point lua

> LuaTeX, because it embeds Lua, is not be similarly available to other 
> Lua applications.

neither are other applications that use lua as an extension language

Hans

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