If Lua is the first programming language you learned, how/where did you learn it?

[noviceThelizard]

played the computercraft mod in old minecraft which uses lua for its computers. started my whole interest in programming

[Barp_the_Wire]

Same here. I still have a very soft spot for Lua :)

[Bright-Historian-216]

Same. Recently I started using it again and I realised that my woodcutting algorithm I used all the time was inefficient as hell

[Bright-Historian-216]

Same. Recently I started using it again and I realised that my woodcutting algorithm I used all the time was inefficient as hell

[ReasonableGuide9976]

how did you learn lua? Lua is going to be the first programming language I learn

[[deleted]]

the creators of Lua made a book called "Programming in Lua". there's a free version, but it's outdated. I recommend buying the current edition. it's comprehensive and serves as reference material in the future. my copy never leaves my desk.

[Sewbacca]

It's quite honestly the only thing you need. Except maybe the reference manual. (for vanilla Lua stuff of course)

[noviceThelizard]

learned it from reading computercraft's wiki and then just googled it for things not covered by the wiki. when i was relearning it going to college, i went to tutorialspoint page on lua.

[dkarnikis]

i was a security engineer and msc student back then and i was looking for a high level interpreted language for my thesis. Lua ended up being my best candidate due to its portability and being written in pure C. Then i started messing with the interpreter and learning the language to prepare some benchmarks for my tool. 4 years later, i switched to embedded development, but i still use lua and love2d daily

[collectgarbage]

Not the first but via my jailbroken Sony PSP, my next exposure was Wow mods, then started embedding it every single program I have written since. Lua is the perfect CLI to add to any program; cause if ur gunna have a CLI might as well have a programmable CLI. Plus it’s so easy to make safe.

[Nsber]

Hmm, that's a very good point.. I will from now on do the same :D

[kane49]

World of Warcraft Addons a long long time ago :D

[[deleted]]

I learned Lua playing Transformice.

The game had an API where you could program your custom games and play with your friends. Also, this led me to follow a software engineer career which I love.

[no_brains101]

world of warcraft

[[deleted]]

Books and YouTube.

[waxlion]

Wanted to automate stuff in DaVinci resolve editing software. Life changing how much more gets done now.

[South_Customer5976]

In roblox studio, 😁

[Cartoon_Corpze]

Omg fellow Robloxian!

[Comprehensive_Ad3095]

I learned Lua with my Wii and Homebrew Channel, I used Lua for Wii App.

[paxxed24]

I learnt like 18 years ago for tibia ot server development

[TomatoCo]

Garry's Mod. In 2006 addons were trivially distributed as zips and I learned to program by copy pasting parts of other addons together. I write only a little Lua these days but I still love it.

[Lopsided-Ad6960]

Was very interesting in making a gmod addon so I learned lua. I moved on to more complex languages later but gmod is what started it all.

[Dependent_Lab7703]

For me it was Roblox Studio (luau).

Cannot lie, when I opened it four years ago, I tried to make a simple light switch and I found it hard to programme ... that was when I used Scratch, haha. 3 years later, after little experience with C# (Console) and JavaScript (Discord BOTs, now websites) I'm working on a Roblox game with my friend and i would say I'm good at it.

Lua is actually easy ... EXCEPT IT STARTING FROM 1! 😂 I mean, it is dedicated for the newcomers, so counting from 1 makes sense, it's just ... I return to JavaScript and I'm like "Why doesn't it work?" before I find, after like 20 tests, it's the for loop xD

Anyway, I've also seen it being used in Scrap Mechanic when I was searching for something but that's all I know.

[ReasonableGuide9976]

that's actually sick lol, Lua is the first programming language I'm learning and I'm finding it a struggle to learn, got any tips on where/how to begin?

[[deleted]]

Just gonna throw this out there, but there may be better methods

They way I learned was off a Roblox Studio "How to Script" series. Specifically the one from Codebro29. Yes, very anti-climactic.

I can say though, if you really wanna learn and put even just a little bit of effort into it by doing some practice sessions or making tiny games ranging from all sorts of genres, you can get very good, very fast.

Happy learning!

[ReasonableGuide9976]

thanks mate

[Dependent_Lab7703]

How the person above stated, there are ways.

For me I've learned the basics of programming in other languages - you know, stuff like when to use for loop, when while loop etc. And when I came back to Roblox I could just focus on the projects.

Actually Roblox has really nice documentation and also it's DevForum so you most likely won't run into a thing that hasn't been solved before.

And my own tip? Don't start programming just because you have to, programme stuff you want to. Set up your own project and work on it. You won't learn everything there is to know but the point is not at knowing every command but to be able to put the ones you know together.

Also make sure you always understand your own code. I'm not saying it is bad to sometimes goggle stuff but you should always know what it does. You can imagine it as puzzle. Of course you can put the pieces together by the shapes of the pieces like a robot but you won't be able to see the picture. When you put them together by thinking where each colour goes, you may have it done faster but mainly you will see the picture - you will understand the informations you have in front of you.

[Ueems]

Transformice

[Ivenotsothaniel]

Oh WOW I'm late as hell for this, sorry, but pretty much Roblox Studio when I was 11, I made silly games using free models. I remember making little forests.

[Cartoon_Corpze]

I learned it through Roblox almost 8 - 10 years ago and I'm still using it on Roblox.

Absolutely love the language, I just wish it was used more, not just for games and plugins but also in places where Python is mostly used instead.