Thoughts? Is this a waste of time, and should I just stick with Python? Lua is useful for a bunch of games I want to mod, but I don't want my introduction to programming to be in a language that won't be useful beyond just that.
Alternatively, should I ignore both of them and learn a "real" language like C++? I can't tell if people here are giving serious advice when they recommend C++, or if they are just shilling.
Other urls found in this thread:
lua.org
tutorialspoint.com
twitter.com
You can do almost anything you want in any language and once you learn one learning more is way easier. just pick a language and make a project if you discover you really need a very specific feature from a language you change to it.
Python is the only relevant coding language in the current year.
Learn whatever is useful to you and if Lua is just that then start with it. The idea that your first language is really import is a myth.
>I don't want my introduction to programming to be in a language that won't be useful beyond just that.
Programming languages are just tools and should be treated as such. If you want to do something, pick the appropriate tool for the job and get to work.
depends on the field you want to enter (pro or hobby)
if games
unity: c#
unreal: C++
godot: gdscript (looks like python)
wow addons: lua
love framework: lua
game from scratch: C++ with opengl/directx (I don't recommend vulkan for beginners also you need some geometry and matrices knowledge)
small terminal games or simple ui :python (with pygame for ui)
visual novel: renpy (in python)
lua is for embedding not general purpose use
You can embed Lua really easily so even if you decide to learn an other language you will still be able to use Lua scrips to grind number really quickly.
Doesn't Lua do a ton of things really counterintuitively and differently compared to more common languages? I know it handles concatenation very differently, and just randomly does things strangely for the sake of it sometimes.
Lua is basically better version of JavaScript
Well, for starters it's one of the few languages that have arrays that begin at 1. But that's besides the point.
To be honest, learn with Lua if you have projects in mind for it. You'll have a much bigger drive to learn programming if you have problems to immediately apply yourself to instead of doing arbitrary code exercises. Once you get experience programming things in one language, a lot of the development skills you'll learn programming in Lua will translate well into other languages too. Once you learn one language, it's much easier to learn another one.
all programming language skills are transferable so you aren't wasting time learning any langauge except Haskell
>Doesn't Lua do a ton of things really counterintuitively and differently compared to more common languages?
no
it uses 1 based indexing
its not a big deal
Anyone know of a comprehensive Lua guide? I've had trouble finding a good one.
>uses 1 based indexing
>its not a big deal
this is a bad post and you should feel bad for making it
it's good if you like modding games like tabletop simulator :)
If you can't adapt from base 0 to base 1 then you're a brainlet who shouldn't be programming
I've obviously seen the free first edition ebook from lua.org but I'll check out the second link, thanks.
Python is a much, much more employable skill, and has much more extensive and useful libraries for it, but I think Lua is a better design. Both of them are worth learning IMO.
Why do you have to pick one or the other? Lua is made to be embedded as a scripting interface for programs written in C or C++ so the two can complement each other, it is a very cleanly designed language with a good economy of features that manage to be powerful and flexible without being very complicated
lua is only ever useful if you need to embed it in a c/c++ aplication to write quick scripts or change shit on the go, other thatn that it's completely useless
Also useful if you want a data description format like JSON but with some brains (its original purpose.)
Also, it's just a lovely, readable, elegant, well-designed language you could use for anything.
If you already know another language, give it a go. It's actually quite smart in some of the design choices. In terms of speed Lua is notoriously slow but for most tasks that shouldn't be an issue.
I'd avoid C++ at all costs. Anons on here shill it to make people go through the same pain they went through.
Lua is cute and everyone should use it
Learn Lua and get rich by making roblox games and sell it to the kids
>gdscript
AHAHAHAAHAHAHHAHAHAH
HAHAHAHAHHAAHHAA
*wheeze*
AHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAH
HHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA
HHHHHAAAAAA
This
I learnt most of the programming concepts I know with bash (and a bit of batch) as I wrote scripts, and with only a cheatsheet and no prior knowledge I could write shitty code in any language without much difficulty
And python too, at least with regards to gluing c programs together
lua is used for a surprising amount of things, you can get away with general purpose programming in lua just fine. theres several web frameworks/libraries, for instance. lua also has a lot of super great libraries that dont exist outside of it, like love2d
also is right lua is adorable
learn lua and haskell !!
this.
Learn it if you want to make WoW addons
>Doesn't Lua do a ton of things really counterintuitively and differently compared to more common languages?
The same could be said for Python.
Learn Python to get a feel for programming and move onto C++ is you still like it. Lua is piss easy to learn after Python. If you end up hating programming, at least you know Python to automate some manual bullshit in your life.
For the beginner I would recommend starting with python then move on to c/java/go whatever best fits your needs
This, it's the only language I have absolutely no trouble reading
I love its syntax too, no brace eyebloat, but no tabs autism too
Lua is a configuration script no one wants to learn. the only acceptable languages in 2019 are Python or JavaScript (pick one), golang, and c.
what is a base 0? a numerical set with no possible options?
>Javascript
>acceptable
>ever
bait harder
>go lang
More like go fuck yourself
nice
>learned lua just to code in Minecraft
Unless you're required to i wouldn't recommend
But affar from that i love the language
>base 0 to base 1
lua is good
it has curly braces and metaprogramming and sane styling
python is gay and faggy