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    Recommend a Lua Book?

    mobileguymobileguy Member
    edited September 2012 in General questions
    Can anyone recommend a good book on learning Lua?
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    • MellsMells Guru
      edited September 2012
      Hi and welcome,

      Programming in Lua by Roberto Ierusalimschy
      Description :
      This book is a detailed and authoritative introduction to all aspects of Lua programming, by Lua's chief architect.

      Programming in Lua gives a solid base for any programmer who wants to use Lua. It covers all aspects of Lua—from the basics to its API with C—explaining how to make good use of its features and giving numerous code examples. The book is targeted at people with some programming background, but it does not assume any prior knowledge about Lua or other scripting languages.
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    • mobileguymobileguy Member
      @Mells: Just curious, have you read it?
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    • MellsMells Guru
      I have read parts of it while I was dissecting large amounts of lua code samples/projects available on the internet.
      It helped me a lot, but there are many things that I skipped.
      twitter@TheWindApps Artful applications : The Wind Forest. #art #japan #apps
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    • techdojotechdojo Guru
      Also "Beginning Lua Programming" by Kurt Jung & Aaron Brown (published by Wrox).
      It's been an invaluable reference to me - especially the chapters on the table and string libraries.

      I'd also recommend the 2nd Edition of Programming in Lua - it's closer to the version of Lua that's used in Gideros.

      There's also a PacktPub book called "Corona SDK Mobile Game Development" by M. Fernandez - obviously it's directed at the Beer SDK, but it's closer than you think!

      Finally Brian Burton has written a couple of books about Corona - that again will probably point you in the right direction

      http://www.burtonsmediagroup.com/books/

      Hope this helps.
      WhiteTree Games - Home, home on the web, where the bits and bytes they do play!
      #MakeABetterGame! "Never give up, Never NEVER give up!" - Winston Churchill
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    • john26john26 Maintainer
      Like Mells said, I read "Programming in Lua". I actually read the first edition which is available online

      http://www.lua.org/pil/#1ed

      It describes Lua 5.0 (most recent is 5.2) but I don't think there are many differences.

      If you are just starting Lua, I would recommend avoiding closures and don't worry about tail recursion. Keep all functions global and avoid nested functions. With this simple style you will avoid 90% of Lua "gotchas". (IMO)

      Likes: techdojo

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    • techdojotechdojo Guru

      It describes Lua 5.0 (most recent is 5.2) but I don't think there are many differences.
      Mostly to do with things like...
      table.insert(t,data)
      vs
      t[#t] = data
      Still a good (free) reference though
      If you are just starting Lua, I would recommend avoiding closures and don't worry about tail recursion. Keep all functions global and avoid nested functions. With this simple style you will avoid 90% of Lua "gotchas". (IMO)
      Damm Straight! - Best advice I've heard all day (other than @Scouser saying put the kettle on you Brittany loving freak!)
      WhiteTree Games - Home, home on the web, where the bits and bytes they do play!
      #MakeABetterGame! "Never give up, Never NEVER give up!" - Winston Churchill
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    • john26john26 Maintainer
      @techdojo Thanks very much. Lua is a powerful and beautiful language but its so flexible and powerful people can really tie themselves in knots. When I started, I used all the fancy tricks and got a lot of inexplicable behaviour so I reverted to a C-like style and found that kept me out of trouble.

      I think there should be some sort of style guide: perhaps one for beginners, one for intermediate and one for advanced users. The beginner style might just use global variables throughout while intermediate would be a C-like style.

      For example, a child could learn Lua as his/her first programming language provided s/he sticks to the beginner style.

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    • techdojotechdojo Guru
      @john26 - 100% agree :)
      WhiteTree Games - Home, home on the web, where the bits and bytes they do play!
      #MakeABetterGame! "Never give up, Never NEVER give up!" - Winston Churchill
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    • OZAppsOZApps Guru
      Do a google search, there are some new books coming soon... included in the Christmas Stocking perhaps ...

      Likes: atilim

      twitter: @ozapps | http://www.oz-apps.com | http://howto.oz-apps.com | http://reviewme.oz-apps.com
      Author of Learn Lua for iOS Game Development from Apress ( http://www.apress.com/9781430246626 )
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