loveputer

A console-based Lua-programmable computer for children based on [LÖVE2D] framework.

Principles

• Command-line based UI
• Full control over each pixel of the display
• Ability to easily reset to initial state
• Impossible to damage with non-violent interaction
• Syntactic mistakes caught early, not accepted on input
• Possibility to test/try parts of program separately
• Share software in source package form
• Minimize frustration

Usage

Rather than the default LÖVE storage locations (save directory, cache, etc), the application uses a folder under Documents to store projects. Ideally, this is located on removable storage to enable sharing programs the user writes.

For simplicity and security reasons, the user is only allowed to access files inside a project. To interact with the filesystem, a project must be selected first.

Keys

Command	Keymap
Clear terminal	Ctrl+L
Quit project	Ctrl+Shift+Q
Reset application to initial state	Ctrl+Shift+R
Exit application	Ctrl+Esc
Input
Move cursor	⇦⇧⇨⇩
Go back in command history	PageUp
Go forward in command history	PageDown
Move in history (if in first/last line)	⇧⇩
Jump to start	Home
Jump to end	End
Insert newline	Shift+Enter

Projects

A project is a folder in the application's storage which contains at least a main.lua file. Projects can be loaded and ran. At any time, pressing Ctrl-Shift-Q quits and returns to the console

• list_projects()

  List available projects.

• project(proj)

  Open project proj or create a new one if it doesn't exist. New projects are supplied with example code to demonstrate the structure.

• current_project()

  Print the currently open project's name (if any).

• run_project(proj?)

  Run either proj or the currently open project if no arguments are passed.

• example_projects()

  Copy the included example projects to the projects folder.

Files

Once a project is open, file operations are available on it's contents.

• list_contents()

  List files in the project.

• readfile(file)

  Open file and display it's contents.

• writefile(file, content)

  Write to file the text supplied as the content parameter. This can be either a string, or an array of strings.

Plumbing

• switch(eval)

  Change the active interpreter to eval

  eval is one of

  • lua - the default lua interpreter
  • input-text - plaintext user input
  • input-lua - syntax highlighted lua input