* Owen Davis <owen(a)wikia-inc.com> [Thu, 22 Dec 2011 11:50:48 -0800]:
I think that would be a nice feature to have.
Amazingly enough,
WikiScripts is not of the extensions that we have in our codebase at
wikia (I think we're over 800+), but I will take a look at the
implementation. The <lua> parser hook allows for parameters, but
that's
not the same. Having access to normal template
parameters would allow
a
lua template to act as a drop in replacement for an
existing template,
which is essential.
WikiScripts parses and executes it's scripts via PHP, which has both
advantages and disadvantages. Lua extension should run faster, however
it is not suitable for every hosting out there, because PHP Lua module
is uncommon. I wonder whether it's possible to run around without PHP
Lua extension, perhaps to daemonize Lua then exchange data between
apache/mod-php and lua processes via named pipes? It is really sad that
PHP itself does not have stable "VM" allowing to execute safe subset of
it's own code in server-side scripts (it had only some beta or alpha
status module). I wonder whether it is possible to cross-translate the
subset of WikiScripts or Lua into PHP source, then PHP eval it (however
would that work with HipHop?).
Also it would be great if WikiScripts or Lua extension allowed to easily
bind functions / class wrappers for another MediaWiki extensions. The
extension I develop uses PHP eval for interpretation of the scripts, I
am looking for adaption of WikiScripts to use it in conjunction with my
extension.
Dmitriy