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Getting Started

This guide will help you install SIMPLOO and create your first class.

Installation

  1. Download simploo.lua from the releases page or build it from source
  2. Place the file in your project directory
  3. Load it at the start of your program:
dofile("simploo.lua")

Or if you're using require:

require("simploo")

Your First Class

Let's create a simple Counter class that can increment and display a value.

dofile("simploo.lua")

class "Counter" {
    value = 0;

    increment = function(self)
        self.value = self.value + 1
    end;

    print = function(self)
        print("Count: " .. self.value)
    end;
}

dofile("simploo.lua")

local counter = class("Counter")
counter.value = 0

function counter:increment()
    self.value = self.value + 1
end

function counter:print()
    print("Count: " .. self.value)
end

counter:register()

Creating Instances

Once a class is defined, create instances using .new():

local myCounter = Counter.new()

myCounter:increment()
myCounter:increment()
myCounter:increment()
myCounter:print()  -- Count: 3

Each instance has its own copy of the class members:

local counter1 = Counter.new()
local counter2 = Counter.new()

counter1:increment()
counter1:increment()

counter1:print()  -- Count: 2
counter2:print()  -- Count: 0

Adding a Constructor

Use __construct to initialize instances with custom values:

class "Counter" {
    value = 0;

    __construct = function(self, startValue)
        self.value = startValue or 0
    end;

    increment = function(self)
        self.value = self.value + 1
    end;

    print = function(self)
        print("Count: " .. self.value)
    end;
}

local counter = class("Counter")
counter.value = 0

function counter:__construct(startValue)
    self.value = startValue or 0
end

function counter:increment()
    self.value = self.value + 1
end

function counter:print()
    print("Count: " .. self.value)
end

counter:register()

Now you can pass arguments when creating instances:

local myCounter = Counter.new(10)
myCounter:increment()
myCounter:print()  -- Count: 11

Development vs Production Mode

SIMPLOO has two modes:

  • Development mode (default) - Includes safety checks like private member access enforcement
  • Production mode - Disables checks for better performance

Set the mode before loading simploo:

simploo = {config = {}}
simploo.config["production"] = true
dofile("simploo.lua")

See Configuration for all available options.

Next Steps