1## Sol 2.20
2
3[![Join the chat in Discord: https://discord.gg/buxkYNT](https://img.shields.io/badge/Discord-Chat!-brightgreen.svg)](https://discord.gg/buxkYNT)
4
5[![Linux & Max OSX Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/ThePhD/sol2.svg?branch=develop)](https://travis-ci.org/ThePhD/sol2)
6[![Windows Build status](https://ci.appveyor.com/api/projects/status/n38suofr21e9uk7h?svg=true)](https://ci.appveyor.com/project/ThePhD/sol2)
7[![Documentation Status](https://readthedocs.org/projects/sol2/badge/?version=latest)](http://sol2.readthedocs.io/en/latest/?badge=latest)
8
9Sol is a C++ library binding to Lua. It currently supports all Lua versions 5.1+ (LuaJIT 2.x included). Sol aims to be easy to use and easy to add to a project.
10The library is header-only for easy integration with projects.
11
12## Documentation
13
14Find it [here](http://sol2.rtfd.io/). A run-through kind of tutorial is [here](http://sol2.readthedocs.io/en/latest/tutorial/all-the-things.html)! The API documentation goes over most cases (particularly, the "api/usertype" and "api/proxy" and "api/function" sections) that should still get you off your feet and going, and there's an examples directory [here](https://github.com/ThePhD/sol2/tree/develop/examples) as well.
15
16## Sneak Peek
17
18```cpp
19#include <sol/sol.hpp>
20#include <cassert>
21
22int main() {
23    sol::state lua;
24    int x = 0;
25    lua.set_function("beep", [&x]{ ++x; });
26    lua.script("beep()");
27    assert(x == 1);
28}
29```
30
31```cpp
32#include <sol/sol.hpp>
33#include <cassert>
34
35struct vars {
36    int boop = 0;
37};
38
39int main() {
40    sol::state lua;
41    lua.new_usertype<vars>("vars", "boop", &vars::boop);
42    lua.script("beep = vars.new()\n"
43               "beep.boop = 1");
44    assert(lua.get<vars>("beep").boop == 1);
45}
46```
47
48More examples are given in the examples directory [here](https://github.com/ThePhD/sol2/tree/develop/examples).
49
50## Supporting
51
52Help the project grow on [patreon](https://www.patreon.com/thephd)!
53
54You can also [donate to support Sol](https://www.paypal.me/LMeneide), which is always appreciated! There are reward tiers for patrons on patreon, too!
55
56You can also help out the library by submitting pull requests to fix anything or add anything you think would be helpful! This includes making small, useful examples of something you haven't seen, or fixing typos and bad code in the documentation.
57
58## Presentations
59
60"A Sun For the Moon - A Zero-Overhead Lua Abstraction using C++"
61ThePhD
62Lua Workshop 2016 - Mashape, San Francisco, CA
63[Deck](https://github.com/ThePhD/sol2/blob/develop/docs/presentations/2016.10.14%20-%20ThePhD%20-%20No%20Overhead%20C%20Abstraction.pdf)
64
65"Wrapping Lua C in C++ - Efficiently, Nicely, and with a Touch of Magic"
66ThePhD
67Boston C++ Meetup November 2017 - CiC (Milk Street), Boston, MA
68[Deck](https://github.com/ThePhD/sol2/blob/develop/docs/presentations/2017.11.08%20-%20ThePhD%20-%20Wrapping%20Lua%20C%20in%20C%2B%2B.pdf)
69
70"Biting the CMake Bullet"
71ThePhD
72Boston C++ Meetup February 2018 - CiC (Main Street), Cambridge, MA
73[Deck](https://github.com/ThePhD/sol2/blob/develop/docs/presentations/2018.02.06%20-%20ThePhD%20-%20Biting%20the%20CMake%20Bullet.pdf)
74
75"Compile Fast, Run Faster, Scale Forever: A look into the sol2 Library"
76ThePhD
77C++Now 2018 - Hudson Commons, Aspen Physics Center, Aspen, Colorado
78[Deck](https://github.com/ThePhD/sol2/blob/develop/docs/presentations/2018.05.10%20-%20ThePhD%20-%20Compile%20Fast%2C%20Run%20Faster%2C%20Scale%20Forever.pdf)
79
80"Scripting at the Speed of Thought: Using Lua in C++ with sol3"
81ThePhD
82CppCon 2018 - 404 Keystone, Meydenbauer Center, Aspen, Colorado
83[Deck](https://github.com/ThePhD/sol2/blob/develop/docs/presentations/2018.09.28%20-%20ThePhD%20-%20Scripting%20at%20the%20Speed%20of%20Thought.pdf)
84
85## Creating a single header
86
87You can grab a single header (and the single forward header) out of the library [here](https://github.com/ThePhD/sol2/tree/develop/single/sol). For stable version, check the releases tab on github for a provided single header file for maximum ease of use. A script called `single.py` is provided in the repository if there's some bleeding edge change that hasn't been published on the releases page. You can run this script to create a single file version of the library so you can only include that part of it. Check `single.py --help` for more info.
88
89If you use CMake, you can also configure and generate a project that will generate the sol2_single_header for you. You can also include the project using Cmake. Run CMake for more details. Thanks @Nava2, @alkino, @mrgreywater and others for help with making the CMake build a reality.
90
91## Features
92
93- [Fastest in the land](http://sol2.readthedocs.io/en/latest/benchmarks.html) (see: sol bar in graph).
94- Supports retrieval and setting of multiple types including:
95  * `std::string`, `std::wstring`, `std::u16string` and `std::u32string` support (and for views).
96  * understands and works with containers such as `std::map/unordered_map`, c-style arrays, vectors, non-standard custom containers and more.
97  * user-defined types, with or **without** registering that type
98  * `std::unique_ptr`, `std::shared_ptr`, and optional support of other pointer types like `boost::shared_ptr`.
99  * custom `optional<T>` that works with references.
100  * C++17 support for variants and similar new types.
101- Lambda, function, and member function bindings are supported.
102- Intermediate type for checking if a variable exists.
103- Simple API that completely abstracts away the C stack API, including `protected_function` with the ability to use an error-handling function.
104- `operator[]`-style manipulation of tables
105- C++ type representations in lua userdata as `usertype`s with guaranteed cleanup.
106- Customization points to allow your C++ objects to be pushed and retrieved from Lua as multiple consecutive objects, or anything else you desire!
107- Overloaded function calls: `my_function(1); my_function("Hello")` in the same lua script route to different function calls based on parameters
108- Support for tables, nested tables, table iteration with `table.for_each` / `begin()` and `end()` iterators.
109- Zero overhead for usertype function call lookup when using `SOL_USE_BOOST`, safe for critical applications
110
111## Supported Compilers
112
113Sol makes use of C++11 **and** C++14 features. GCC 5.x.x and Clang 3.6.x (with `-std=c++1z` and appropriate standard library)
114or higher should be able to compile without problems. However, the officially supported and CI-tested compilers are:
115
116- GCC 5.x.x+ (MinGW 5.x.x+)
117- Clang 3.6.x+
118- Visual Studio 2015 Community (Visual C++ 14.0)+
119
120Please make sure you use the `-std=c++1y`, `-std=c++14`, `-std=c++1z`, `-std=c++17` or better standard flags
121(some of these flags are the defaults in later versions of GCC, such as 6+ and better).
122
123Older compilers (GCC 4.9.x, Clang 3.4.x seem to be the lowest) can work with versions as late
124as [v2.17.5](https://github.com/ThePhD/sol2/releases/tag/v2.17.5), with the flag `-std=c++14` or `-std=c++1y`.
125
126sol2 is checked by-hand for other platforms as well, including Android-based builds with GCC and iOS-based builds out of XCode with Apple-clang. It should work on both of these platforms, so long as you have the proper standards flags.
127
128## Running the Tests
129
130Testing on Travis-CI and Appveyor use CMake. You can generate the tests by running CMake and configuring `TESTS`, `TESTS_SINGLE`, `TESTS_EXAMPLES`, and `EXAMPLES` to be on. Make sure `SINGLE` is also on.
131
132You will need any flavor of python3 and an available compiler. The testing suite will build its own version of Lua and LuaJIT, so you do not have to.
133
134## License
135
136Sol is distributed with an MIT License. You can see LICENSE.txt for more info.
137