Comet 145.1.7632.3200

Comet: Lightweight Lua Development Environment for Numerical Computing on Android

Comet (formerly SigmaScript) is a compact development environment and Lua scripting engine optimized for numerical computing and data analysis on Android devices. Created by Prof. Sidi Hamady, Comet bundles scientific modules for linear algebra, ordinary differential equations, plotting and data analysis with a full-featured code editor and included Lua samples, making it a practical choice for researchers, engineers and students who want to prototype algorithms on a phone or tablet.

What Comet Does Best

Comet focuses on bringing the power of Lua to mobile numerical computing. It combines a syntax-highlighting editor, an integrated Lua interpreter and specialized numerical libraries so you can write, run and debug scripts without leaving your Android device. The app supports data plotting, sqlite database access, and built-in modules tailored to scientific workflows.

Key Features and Modules

• Built-in Lua scripting engine with editor: syntax highlighting, code templates and example scripts to speed development.
• Numerical libraries for linear algebra, differential equations and optimization useful for engineering and scientific tasks.
• Data plotting and analysis tools integrated in-app for quick visualization of results on mobile screens.
• File operations: open/save to internal or external storage and support for plain text files (.txt).
• SQLite support for lightweight data storage and retrieval directly from scripts.
• No runtime permissions: recent app updates removed vibration permission and minimize required permissions, improving privacy.
• Foreground service support for long-running scripts to avoid interruptions on Android.

Platforms, History and Related Tools

Comet is actively distributed on Google Play for Android (listed as Comet, previously SigmaScript). Desktop support for Windows and Linux has been superseded by Solis, a newer environment that extends Comets functionality for numerical computing and visualization. For users who only need a lightweight Lua editor on desktop, Comet N (a stripped version) is available as an open-source, MIT-licensed legacy release with downloadable portable builds and source on GitHub. Related tools from the same author include SigmaCalculator (advanced expression-based calculator) and SigmaGraph (data plotting and analysis for Windows).

Performance, Usability and Known Limitations

Comet is designed to run on phones and tablets with modest resource demands, but heavy numerical scripts or large datasets may run slower than on desktop environments. Users in Play Store reviews report reliable script execution and occasional slowdowns with very large loops or obfuscated code. A few workflows (for example using os.exit() in scripts) can affect app state until restarted. The developer provides documentation and example PDFs to help onboard new users, and occasional UI adjustments have added new plot functions and multilingual support (English, French, Portuguese, Spanish).

Target Users and Use Cases

1. Students and educators who need a portable Lua environment for learning scripting and numerical methods.
2. Researchers and engineers who want to prototype algorithms, test numerical methods and visualize small datasets on Android devices.
3. Developers seeking a compact Lua editor with built-in scientific modules and offline plotting capabilities.

Reasons to Choose Comet

• Mobile-first Lua environment that brings scripting and numerical computing to Android devices.
• Integrated scientific toolset with linear algebra, ODE solvers, plotting and database access.
• Lightweight and privacy-oriented with minimal permissions required and foreground service support for long runs.
• Legacy desktop options via Comet N and an upgrade path to Solis for more advanced Windows/Linux needs.
• Open-source components and downloadable legacy packages for offline or portable use.