Lua (/ˈluːə/LOO-ə; from Portuguese:lua [ˈlu.(w)ɐ] meaningmoon) is a lightweight, high-level, multi-paradigm programming language created in 1993 by Roberto Ierusalimschy, Luiz Henrique de Figueiredo, and Waldemar Celes.

Lua is implemented inC and has simple API which helps it interface easily with other languages.

This programming language is also related to (other than C/C++):Python,Java,JavaScript, as well as a few concepts ofPerl, etc.

Lua is mainly used for embedded systems and forgame development. Some games that are scripted in Lua include:World of Warcraft,Roblox games, Angry Birds (video game), etc.

Some other sources that use Lua include Nmap and Adobe Lightroom.

Lua's latest version is version 5.4.8 and was released 2025-05-21.

Some text editors that use Lua include: SciTE, Notepad++ with Autocompletion Plugin, Visual Studio with BabeLua Plugin, ZeroBrane Studio and Atom Editor with the Love-IDE collection of packages.

APDF version is available. (info)

At first in its release it was used as home programming language then later appeared publicly. The most famous Lua book is by Roberto Ierusalimschy, the creator of Lua and it's called"Programming in Lua fourth edition"

According to 2021 statistics so far, Lua is used 0.47 percent out of all programming languages.

This book has acollection for ordering aprinted copy of this book for a fee.(edit) (help)

Aprintable version of Lua Programming is available. (edit it)

This book is divided into the following chapters and appendices:

Introduction 

This chapter introduces the Lua language and gives a brief overview of its purpose and history. It also introduces some programming concepts.

Expressions 

This chapters provides comprehensive coverage of expressions, operators and types.

Statements 

This chapter describes the statements available in Lua.

Functions 

This chapter explains the purpose and usage of functions and describes the syntax for function definitions.

Tables 

This chapter covers table constructors, metatables, iterators and sorting.

Standard libraries 

This chapter describes the functionality offered by the standard libraries.

Appendix: Software testing 

This appendix gives information about testing programs written in Lua.

Glossary 

This glossary contains accurate definitions of all significant terms used in the book and relevant to the subject.

Index 

This index contains a list of all the topics and functions covered in the book and references to the locations in the book where these topics and functions are described.

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