Writing a new NSE library in C/C++

NSE libraries in Lua are preferred, but NSE also supports C/C++ modules via the Lua C API. This is only recommended if you require better performance or are integrating an already existing project.

This recipe will teach you how to create an NSE library in C/C++.

How to do it...

Let's go through the process of creating a C library and accessing it with the Lua C API. Our module will only contain a single function that prints a message onscreen:

1. Create your library source and header files. C library filenames must be prepended with the nse_string. For our library test, we will need nse_test.cc and nse_test.h. First, create nse_test.cc and paste the following code:

   extern "C" {
     #include "lauxlib.h"
     #include "lua.h"
   }
   #include "nse_test.h"
   static int hello_world(lua_State *L) { 
     printf("Hello World From a C library\n"); 
     return 1;
   }...