Release notes from moonscript

v0.6.0

2026-01-10T01:36:53Z

New Features

Command Line Improvements

Switched from alt_getopt to argparse - Both moon and moonc now use argparse for argument parsing, providing better help messages via --help and more robust option handling
Added -e/--execute flag to moon - Execute MoonScript code directly from the command line:
```
moon -e "print 'Hello World'"
```
New --transform option for moonc - Allows custom AST transformations before compilation by specifying a module that receives and returns the syntax tree
Improved - (stdin) handling - Now properly enforces that - must be the only argument

moonc Option Renames

-w is now also available as --watch
-l is now also available as --lint
-t is now also available as --output-to

New Tools

moon-tags - New script for generating ctags-compatible tag files for MoonScript, with support for:
- Class definitions
- Class methods
- Top-level function definitions (exported via {:func} pattern)
- Lapis route detection (--lapis flag)
- Optional line numbers (--include-line flag)
- Optionally skip header (--no-header flag)

Utility Improvements

moon.p() now prints multiple arguments - Pass multiple values and each will be dumped
util.dump shows class names - When dumping objects, the class name is displayed (e.g., <MyClass>{...})

Compiler Enhancements

Lua keyword property access on self - Properties with Lua keyword names (like @then or @@then) now compile correctly using bracket notation instead of invalid self.then

Bug Fixes

Fixed ambiguous Lua generation after import - Semicolons are now correctly inserted when the next line starts with (, preventing parsing ambiguity
Fixed update operators with complex chain indexes - Expressions like a[func()].x += 1 now correctly lift the index expression to avoid double evaluation
Exit with proper error code - moon now exits with code 1 when the executed script fails
Fixed moonc - - Reading from stdin now works correctly
Removed accidental debug print - Removed stray print file, time in watcher code
dump.tree returns string - Now returns the string instead of printing directly
Removed noisy "Built" message - Single file compilation no longer prints "Built" to stderr

Internal Changes

Migrated CI from Travis to GitHub Actions
Added comprehensive compiler and transform specs
Improved binary building workflow for Windows and Linux
Better error messages for invalid destructure assignments
Updated splat.moon to use argparse, added --strip-prefix option

win32-v0.5.0

2016-09-26T01:22:45Z

No content.

MoonScript v0.5.0

2016-09-26T01:25:06Z

Windows binary: https://github.com/leafo/moonscript/releases/tag/win32-v0.5.0

Syntax updates

Function calls

Function calls with parentheses can now have free whitespace around the
arguments. Additionally, a line break may be used in place of a comma:

my_func(
  "first arg"
  =>
    print "some func"

  "third arg", "fourth arg"
)

Function argument definitions

Just like the function all update, function argument definitions have no
whitespace restrictions between arguments, and line breaks can be used to
separate arguments:

some_func = (
  name
  type
  action="print"
) =>
  print name, type, action

Additions

elseif can be used part of an unless block (nymphium)
unless conditional expression can contain an assignment like an if statement (#251)
Lua 5.3 bitwise operator support (nymphium) (Kawahara Satoru)
Makefile is Lua version agnostic (nymphium)
Lint flag can be used with moonc watch mode (ChickenNuggers)
Lint exits with status 1 if there was a problem detected (ChickenNuggers)
Compiler can be used with lulpeg

Bug Fixes

Slice boundaries can be full expressions (#233)
Destructure works when used as loop variable in comprehension (#236)
Proper name local hoisting works for classes again (#287)
Quoted table key literals can now be parsed when table declaration is in single line (#286)
Fix an issue where else could get attached to wrong if statement (#276)
Loop variables will no longer overwrite variables of the same name in the same scope (egonSchiele)
A file being deleted will not crash polling watch mode (ChickenNuggers)
The compiler will not try to compile a directory ending in .moon (Gskartwii)
alt_getopt import works with modern version (Jon Allen)
Code coverage not being able to find file from chunk name

win32-v0.4.0

2015-12-07T01:03:15Z

No content.

v0.4.0

2015-12-07T02:18:43Z

You can now find windows binaries through GithHub's releases. See win32-v0.4.0

Changes to `super`

super now looks up the parent method via the class reference, instead of a
(fixed) closure to the parent class.

Given the following code:

class MyThing extends OtherThing
  the_method: =>
    super!

In the past super would compile to something like this:

_parent_0.the_method(self)

Where _parent_0 was an internal local variable that contains a reference to
the parent class. Because the reference to parent is an internal local
variable, you could never swap out the parent unless resorting to the debug
library.

This version will compile to:

_class_0.__parent.__base.the_method(self)

Where _class_0 is an internal local variable that contains the current class (MyThing).

Another difference is that the instance method is looked up on __base instead
of the class. The old variation would trigger the metamethod for looking up on
the instance, but a class method of the same name could conflict, take
precedence, and be retuned instead. By referencing __base directly we avoid
this issue.

Super on class methods

super can now be used on class methods. It works exactly as you would expect.

class MyThing extends OtherThing
  @static_method: =>
    print super!

Calling super will compile to:

_class_0.__parent.static_method(self)

Improved scoping for super

The scoping of super is more intelligent. You can warp your methods in other
code and super will still generate correctly. For example, syntax like this
will now work as expected:

class Sub extends Base
  value: if debugging
    => super! + 100
  else
    => super! + 10

  other_value: some_decorator {
    the_func: =>
      super!
  }

super will refer to the lexically closest class declaration to find the name
of the method it should call on the parent.

Bug Fixes

Nested with blocks used incorrect ref (#214 by @geomaster)
Lua quote string literals had wrong precedence (#200 by @nonchip)
Returning from with block would generate two return statements (#208)
Including return or break in a continue wrapped block would generate invalid code (#215 #190 #183)

Other

Refactor transformer out into multiple files
moon command line script rewritten in MoonScript
moonscript.parse.build_grammar function for getting new instance of parser grammar
Chain AST updated to be simpler

v0.3.2

2015-06-02T05:32:36Z

version bump

v0.3.1

2015-03-07T16:19:10Z

version bump

v0.3.0

2015-03-01T03:13:16Z

fix codeblock language

v0.2.6

2014-06-19T07:24:52Z

rebuild version

v0.2.5

2014-03-05T08:33:18Z

bump version 🌛

Release notes from moonscript

v0.6.0

New Features

Command Line Improvements

moonc Option Renames

New Tools

Utility Improvements

Compiler Enhancements

Bug Fixes

Internal Changes

win32-v0.5.0

MoonScript v0.5.0

Syntax updates

Function calls

Function argument definitions

Additions

Bug Fixes

win32-v0.4.0

v0.4.0

Changes to super

Super on class methods

Improved scoping for super

Bug Fixes

Other

v0.3.2

v0.3.1

v0.3.0

v0.2.6

v0.2.5

Changes to `super`