Programming in Lua Exam

1. (6 points) Show how to write the following piece of XML as a short string and as a long string:

<![CDATA[
  Hello World
]]>

Answer:

"<![CDATA[\n  Hello World\n]]>"

[=[<![CDATA[
  Hello World
]]>]=]

2. (6 points) After running a = {}; a.a = a, what is the value of a.a.a.a? If we now do a.a.a.a = 3, what is the value of a.a.a.a?

The same as a.

It is an error, because a.a is now 3.

3. (6 points) Write a function that receives an arbitrary number of values and returns all of them, except the first one.

function drop1(x, ...)
  return ...
end

4. (12 points) Write a function poly that takes a polynomial represented as an array of coeficients and returns a function that takes a parameter x and evaluates the polynomial for x. For example:

f = poly({3, 0, 1})
print(f(0)) -- 1

print(f(5)) -- 76

Answer:

function poly(cs)
  return function(x)
           local sum = 0
           local power = #cs - 1
           for _, c in ipairs(cs) do
             sum = sum + c * (x ^ power)
             power = power - 1
           end
           return sum
         end
end

5. (15 points) Write a function fibs that returns a closure iterator that produces the first n numbers of the Fibonacci sequence (1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, …). For example:

s = 0
for i in fibs(5) do
  s = s + i
end
print(s) -- 1 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 5

Answer:

function fibs(n)
  local a = 1
  local b = 1
  return function ()
           if n == 0 then return end
           local next = a
           a, b = b, a + b
           n = n - 1
           return next
         end
end

6. (6 points) Suppose the value of package.path is .\?.lua;c:\Lua52\libs\?.lua;c:\Lua52\libs\?\init.lua. What files will Lua try to load if we do require "mypack.mymod"?

.\mypack\mymod.lua
c:\Lua52\libs\mypack\mymod.lua
c:\Lua52\libs\mypack\mymod\init.lua

7. (6 points) Is the operation == always commutative in Lua? Explain.

No, because the __eq metamethod may not implement a commutative operation.

8. (15 points) Write an Iterator class that takes a closure iterator in its constructor. Objects of the Iterator class have a next method that returns the next element produced by the closure iterator.

local Iterator = {}
Iterator.__index = Iterator

function Iterator:new(iter)
  return setmetatable({ iter = iter }, self)
end

function Iterator:next()
  return self.iter()
end

9. (6 points) Assume the Lua stack is empty. What will be its contents after the following sequences of calls in a C function?

lua_pushstring(L, "foo");
lua_pushnil(L);
lua_pushvalue(L, -2);
lua_pushnumber(L, 5);
lua_remove(L, 1);
lua_insert(L, -2);

Answer:

From bottom to top:

nil 5 "foo"

10. (10 points) A web server uses a Lua configuration file like the one below. Assume that the configuration file has already been loaded. Write the C code that extracts the configuration values from the Lua state, and writes them to variables addr_ip, addr_port, and http_root on the C side.

address = { ip = "*", port = 8080 }
root = "/var/www"

Answer:

lua_getglobal(L, "address");
lua_getfield(L, -1, "ip");
strcpy(addr_ip, lua_tostring(L, -1));
lua_pop(L, 1);
lua_getfield(L, -1, "port");
addr_port = lua_tointeger(L, -1);
lua_getglobal(L, "root");
strcpy(http_root, lua_tostring(L, -1));

11. (6 points) Write a C function that receives an arbitrary number of values and returns all of them, except the first one.

static int drop1(lua_State *L) {
  int nargs = lua_gettop(L);
  if(nargs > 0)
    return nargs - 1;
  else
    return 0;
}

12. (6 points) Write the Lua code that corresponds to the sequence of Lua VM instructions below. Assume that register 0 is the local variable a, register 1 is b, and register 2 is c.

NEWTABLE R0 R0 R0
SETTABLE R0 R1 R2
GETTABLE R1 R0 R1

Answer (void):

a = {}
b[c] = a
b = a[b]