[luatex] Inspecting TeX tokens from a Lua REPL

[Eduardo Ochs]

Hi list,

I am not sure if this is the right place to ask open-ended questions,
but let me try.

I wrote a package called Dednat6 - here:

  http://angg.twu.net/LATEX/2018tugboat-rev1.pdf (TUGBoat article)
  http://angg.twu.net/LATEX/2018dednat6-extras.pdf (extra features/docs)
  http://angg.twu.net/dednat6.zip (zip file)
  http://angg.twu.net/dednat6.html (home page)

and it includes a nice Lua REPL. If we run this,

  rm -Rfv /tmp/dn6-test/
  mkdir   /tmp/dn6-test/
  cd      /tmp/dn6-test/
  wget http://angg.twu.net/dednat6.zip
  unzip dednat6.zip
  lualatex 2018dednat6-repl.tex

we enter the REPL in the middle of the compilation of a document; more
precisely, in this context:

  \documentclass{article}
  \begin{document}
    \catcode`\^^J=10
    \directlua{dofile "dednat6load.lua"}
    \directlua{luarepl()}

which means that we can use the REPL to inspect, *from Lua*, the
current definitions and macros - for example, the current definitions
for \section and \subsection. I am just beginning to play with this
idea, writing code that uses the these functions from the token
library (section 9.6 in the LuaTeX reference manual),

  token.create(...)
  token.get_macro(...)
  token.get_meaning(...)

and inspecting the fields "command", "cmdname", "csname", "id",
"active", "expandable", "protected" of token objects... clearly I
haven't gone very far.

What tools do you people use to inspect \defs from Lua? Where do you
suggest me to look? Any suggestions of packages, articles (in TUGBoat
or elsewhere), webpages, code, comments in source code?...

Thanks in advance!
  Eduardo Ochs
  http://angg.twu.net/math-b.html



P.S.: this question is connected to the one in this thread -
http://tug.org/pipermail/luatex/2018-January/006736.html - but I know
much more now...

P.S.: messy code welcome, & feel free to write me in private!
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