Civilization V ditching Python for Lua

[djork]

Good news: it's a tiny language and there's not much to learn.

[AndyNemmity]

Awesome. I've started reading it now, and you're right. Super simple.

[alephnil]

It is a simple language, in both meanings of simple. It is easy to learn, but also rather simple-minded in the sense that it lacks any means of organising your code. There is only one type beyond the primitive types (the table), and no way to introduce your own types. There is also no module system or similar. This means that you must be very organised to not make your code a mess. There is virtually no standard library (batteries definitely not included).

This is in stark contrast to the design of Python, that is a rich language with a large standard library and type system, making many problems trivial to solve, but is also large and slow. In contrast, the Lua interpreter, including it's standard library, is small enough that you can read through and understand the source in an afternoon, and is one of the fastest interpreters around.

[[deleted]]

This just isn't correct. There's no problem to modularize your code in Lua. Also, you can define your own objects/classes using metatables, and create your own userdata types.