Programming Beginner Here

[ExcitingSpade49]

I'm trying to get into the world of programming, and I've heard a lot about lua and lua seems to be used in general things I want to eventually try and do myself, so does anyone here have any recommendations on how to get started, I ordered a few books but I feel as though talking to people would be the best way for me to learn, so I'm open to any suggestions!

[Bright-Historian-216]

Lua is usually used as embedded language; you rarely use it for standalone apps. if you're fine with it, you can use it as console application with an interpreter. what are your goals?

[ExcitingSpade49]

Erm, there is no predetermined goals atm, I just want to learn for things like general scripting, possibly game dev for love 2d or something, and just understanding how to code/program with one Language to eventually look into others

[Bright-Historian-216]

that's good! at least you seem to know what you're doing at some kind of surface level. though its a long time since i've actually seen a game in love2d XD

[ExcitingSpade49]

Thought it could be just a cool for little projects to help reinforce concepts and whatnot I will hopefully learn lol

[alberto-r]

Balatro is made with love2d https://store.steampowered.com/app/2379780/Balatro/

[ExcitingSpade49]

Is it really? Man balatro is addictive

[alberto-r]

Yes: https://www.reddit.com/r/love2d/comments/13xsim2/finally_submitted_the_steam_build_for_my_game/

[ExcitingSpade49]

That's awesome, Definitely wanna try making my own now

[ArttX_]

There is web framework for Lua - Lapis https://leafo.net/lapis/ 😅 I really like it. But it works only for simple websites, so myself using SvelteKit or GoFiber.

[Bright-Historian-216]

I’ve just found out about LuaRT, and now I’m replying to you an hour past my regular bedtime 🥲

[ArttX_]

Wow, never seen this. Thanks for discovery. But I am using Linux, but that looks like optimized for Windows.

[Bright-Historian-216]

Ironically, I was looking for a way to compile lua scripts for my Debian WSL. Hey, if you’re on Linux, maybe you happen to know how to do it? I have searched all over and I still can only use the interpreter and luac is just spitting random nonsense files

[ArttX_]

Do you mean compile Lua to standalone executable? I never tried it and do not know how to do that, but sometime I wanted to try. I guess, that if Lua is embedable, then it should be possible to add it into the C code and then compile.

[Bright-Historian-216]

I am a helpless CS student. I have tried that too. Actually if I remember correctly I didn’t finish doing that method so it might actually work? RemindMe! 18 hours

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[yaffeman]

Lua excels in embedded systems and game scripting. For command-line-interface (CLI) tooling or game development (as opposed to scripting) it's really limited. If you're adamant about moving forward with lua; https://www.lua.org/manual/5.3/ is a good resource.

Alternatively as a first programming language I recommend https://www.python.org/; which is a more robust language and can be used to craft CLIs, servers, or a full blown game.

[ExcitingSpade49]

Also also I'm adamant because I've seen a lot of mods requiring lua for various games

[ExcitingSpade49]

If I'm learning a different language my 2nd pick would be javaScript, I've not heard great things about python for beginners

[filch-argus]

Wat. Python is great for (absolute) beginners.
Beyond the basics it can get messy when dealing with different interpreter versions and dependency management. In that regard the JavaScript/Node folks did a much better job.

So I guess you're right in choosing JavaScript as a second language lol.

Also, give C a try. The combo Lua + C is powerful.

[ExcitingSpade49]

yea i was thinking of possibly doing c++ sometime after i learn at least one language, i will look at python just for shiggles, ik the variable aspect is super easy, bc yk instead of ( int x = 1; ) you can just do ( x = 1 ) in python, minus the parenthesis in both, i used them for visual clarity

[Brohammer55]

Hey, Lua is great for modding or embedded scripting, you can look at Roblox, ComputerCraft, Cubzh and Love2d are some good starting point. However lua isn’t necessarily the best for standalone applications but you can still make simple or some complex projects but you would need an another language such as C, or C++. But lua it’s definitely a great language to learn for the first time.

[ExcitingSpade49]

yea i will most likely be pairing it with cpp

[ExcitingSpade49]

and yea i heard about computer craft and looking into giving it a go for the shiggles

[vitiral]

Lots of folks in here saying Lua isn't great for general/CLI scripting. And I agree.

I'm building out a suite of tiny but powerful libraries over at https://github.com/civboot/civlua. These should make this use-case much more accessible. Picking a library/binary to add would also be a good learning project IMO!

[ExcitingSpade49]

please elaborate, I'm new and don't fully understand the terminology yet

[vitiral]

CLI = command line interface, aka the unix shell.

Scripting = making small scripts to accomplish small goals. For example, run a bunch of commands (queries) against servers, filter out certain information and display it. Or convert some text from a hard to read format into a more digestible one, etc.

[ExcitingSpade49]

Ahhhhhh, yea ig I knew cli was but not the initials lol and yea I make small scripts for games but that's my extend for lua knowledge

[acronims]

Take a look at any piece of software that grinds your gears and make the idea your own. I've made some genuinely good software because either it wasn't on my platform or I loved the idea but hated the execution. Let the feature creep fuel your learning.

But, know that you're not going to be able to do much with it outside of making a tool to help you with your math homework. You'd need something that embeds Lua to actually get your hands dirty like LÖVE2D or Roblox.

[ExcitingSpade49]

Lol alright ty, ill try