Lua Development Tools, an IDE for the Lua programming language

Lua Development Tools

Build on Eclipse

Warning: LDT is a usable tool but it is not maintained anymore.
More details available at here.

Introduction

Lua Development Tools (LDT) is about providing Lua developers with an IDE providing the user experience developers expect from any other tool dedicated to a static programming language.

Like many other dynamic languages, Lua is so flexible that it is hard to analyze enough to provide relevant and powerful tooling.
LDT is using Metalua, to analyze Lua source code and provide nice user assistance.

LDT is an Open Source tool, licensed under the EPL.

LDT screen shots on several OS

Code assistance screenshot

Code Assistance — Still writing code, but quicker.

Debugger screenshot

Debugger — Finally a tool enabling to watch what is going on in your application.

Code template screenshot

Code Template — Use common statements quicker.

Syntax color screenshot

Syntax Coloring — Just for getting code nicer to write and to read. Notice, locals in clear and globals in bold.

Error marker screenshot

Error Marker — Where is my mistake? Let the editor show you.

Outline screenshot

Outline — Tired of scrolling?

Variable Highlight screenshot

Variable Highlight — Shows you all references to one variable.

Code formatter screenshot

Code Formatter — You code, we indent.

Code Folding screenshot

Code folding — File is too big, comments are too long? Here is a feature for you.

Go to Definition screenshot

Goto definition — Code navigation finally brought to Lua.

LDT running under Linux, Windows and Mac OSX

Cross-platform — LDT runs on Linux, OSX and Windows.

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Features

Code Assistance
Debugger
Code Template
Syntax Coloring
Error Markers
Outline
Variable Highlight
Code Formatter
Code Folding
Goto Definition
Cross Platform

Installation

Standalone product

It is an all in once bundle, download ~60 MB and be all set. (based on old version of eclipse)

Version	Windows	Mac OS X	Linux
Stable release (1.4.2)	32-bit	-	32-bit
Stable release (1.4.2)	64-bit	64-bit	64-bit

Existing Eclipse installation

As LDT is no more maintained and maybe one day it will not be possible to install in a recent version of Eclipse.

It was tested with "Eclipse IDE 2023-09R" and it works, see that for details.

In your Eclipse, go to Help > Install New Software...
Add the following repository:

http://download.eclipse.org/ldt/releases/stable

As LDT depends on old DTLK version you also need to add this repository:

http://download.eclipse.org/technology/dltk/updates-dev/5.6/

You could share your experience here.

Documentation

All Documentation is available here.

LDT User Guide can also be accessed directly from the Eclipse Help ("Help > Help Content" menu).

Source code

The git repository of LDT is available. For building, check instructions.