setmetatable(_G, {
    __index = function(t, k)
        -- assume any nonexistent global is a module we haven't loaded yet
        local ok, result = pcall(require, k)

        -- if the require failed then we can't do anything more
        if not ok then
            error("Failed to autoload " .. k .. ": " .. result)
        end

        -- check if the module has an initializer
        if result.initialize then
            result:initialize()
        end

        -- got something, bind it to the module name and return it
        rawset(t, k, result)
        return result
    end;
})