local function str_to_source(str)
  return "\"" .. str .. "\""
end

local function table_to_str(tbl, indent)
  indent = indent or 1

  -- to prevent people doing stuff that this function doesn't expect
  assert(not getmetatable(tbl), "cannot export a table with a metatable")

  local src = "{"
  for k, v in pairs(tbl) do
    print(k, v)
    if type(k) == "function" or type(v) == "function" then
      error("Cannot export function " .. tostring(k) .. " = " .. tostring(v))
    end
    if type(k) ~= "number" then
      src = src .. "["

      if type(k) == "string" then
        src = src .. str_to_source(k)
      elseif type(k) == "table" then
        error("Tables as keys aren't supported for exporting")
      else
        src = src .. tostring(k)
      end

      src = src .. "]="
    end

    if type(v) == "table" then
      src = src .. table_to_str(v, indent + 1)
    elseif type(v) == "string" then
      src = src .. str_to_source(v)
    else
      src = src .. tostring(v)
    end

    src = src .. ","
  end

  src = src .. "}"

  return src
end

function export_to_source(tbl, file_name)
  local src = table_to_str(tbl)
  src = "return " .. src
  local file = io.open(file_name, "w")
  if file == nil then
    error("could not open file '" .. file_name .. "'")
  end
  file:write(src)
  file:close()
end