Chapter 1: Getting started

Where you will learn how to set up a development environment for Lux.

Before any coding can happen, it is necessary to set-up everything you need to become a productive Lux programmer.

Question #1: How do I write Lux code?

Text editor support is a fundamental thing for any language, and Lux already covers some of that. The catch is that there's only support for Emacs at the moment.

The plugin is called lux-mode.

The instructions for how to install it are at the link and it won't take much time.

Note: If you've already installed lux-mode before while using a previous version of Lux, you should install it again, as the language has changed a lot between previous versions and v0.6.

Question #2: How do I build Lux programs?

Lux uses a custom-made build tool named Aedifex which is configured using a declarative Lux-based syntax.

To install Aedifex, go to https://github.com/LuxLang/lux/tree/master/shell and download either lux.bat or lux.sh depending on whether you're on Windows or Linux/Mac.

Also download the aedifex.jar file, and place it (along with either of the scripts you downloaded) somewhere in your PATH.

Now, you'll have access to the lux command, which allows you to run Aedifex to build and test Lux projects.

Question #3: How do I use Aedifex?

To find out, let's create a sample project that will have everything we need.

These are the steps:

  1. Create a directory called my_project.
  2. Create a new project file at my_project/project.lux.
  3. Add this to the project file:
[""
 ["identity" ["my.group" "my_project" "0.1.0-SNAPSHOT"]
  "repositories" ["https://oss.sonatype.org/content/repositories/snapshots/"
                  "https://oss.sonatype.org/service/local/staging/deploy/maven2/"]
  
  "dependencies" [["com.github.luxlang" "stdlib" "0.7.0" "tar"]]
  "lux" ["com.github.luxlang" "lux-jvm" "0.7.0" "jar"]

  "program" main.main]]

... By default, Aedifex uses the "source" directory for finding your source-code.
... The file containing our program will be my_project/source/main.lux.
  1. Create my_project/source/main.lux and add this code to it:
(.require
 [library
  [lux (.except)
   [program (.only program)]
   ["[0]" debug]
   [control
    ["[0]" io]]]])

(def main
  (program args
    (io.io (debug.log! "Hello, world!"))))

... As you can see, this is nothing more than a very simple "Hello, world!" program to test things out.
... Everything will be explained later in the rest of the book.
  1. In your terminal, go to my_project, and execute lux build.

When it's done, you should see a message like this:

...
Compilation complete!
Duration: +15s26ms
[BUILD ENDED]

A directory named target will have been created, containing everything that was compiled, alongside an executable JAR file.

  1. Run the program with this command: java -jar target/program.jar

  2. Smile :)

    For a thorough specification of what Aedifex can do, please refer to Appendix H.

Question #4: Where can I find documentation for Lux?

A specially useful source of information is the documentation for the standard library.

You can also explore the Lux repository on GitHub for more information.

Question #5: Where do I talk about Lux?

The place to talk about Lux is at the Lux forum.

You can also come and say hi at the Gitter channel.

And, to communicate directly with me, just email me at: luxlisp@gmail.com

Now, we can proceed to the actual teaching of the language!

See you in the next chapter!