Beginning Lua Programming - Softcover

Jung, Kurt

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0470069171 ISBN 13: 9780470069172

Publisher: Wrox, 2007

Synopsis

This book is for students and professionals who are intrigued by the prospect of learning and using a powerful language that provides a rich infrastructure for creating programs. No programming knowledge is necessary to benefit from this book except for the section on Lua bindings, which requires some familiarity with the C programming language. A certain comfort level with command-line operations, text editing, and directory structures is assumed.

You need surprisingly little in the way of computer resources to learn and use Lua. This book focuses on Windows and Unix-like (including Linux) systems, but any operating system that supports a command shell should be suitable. You'll need a text editor to prepare and save Lua scripts.

If you choose to extend Lua with libraries written in a programming language like C, you'll need a suitable software development kit. Many of these kits are freely available on the Internet but, unlike Lua, they can consume prodigious amounts of disk space and memory.

About this title

About the Author

Between his first programs submitted to a Burroughs 5500 on Hollerith punch cards and his latest programs tapped into a Palm Pilot, Kurt Jung has been the principal programmer on various projects ranging from airline yield management to state machine–driven workflow.

Aaron Brown began programming in elementary school on a Commodore 64. He plays various musical instruments and speaks Esperanto.

From the Back Cover

Lua offers a wide range of features that you can utilize to support and enhance your applications. With this book as your guide, you'll gain a thorough understanding of all aspects of programming with this powerful language. It will walk you through the basics, covering everything from installing Lua on your system to developing games and web sites.

Experts Jung and Brown first present the fundamentals of programming and explain standard Lua functions. They then show you how to take advantage of all of the free Lua community resources that are available. Complete code samples are integrated throughout the chapters to clearly demonstrate how to apply the information. Diagrams are also included to highlight important Lua features such as stacks, hash tables, garbage collection, and function closures. All of this will help you to quickly write your own effective programs.

What you will learn from this book

• Ways to extend Lua's operators with metamethods
• Methods on how to use tables, strings, and modules
• How to handle events naturally with coroutines
• Techniques for managing information with databases
• Tips for handling and avoiding programming errors
• Ways to create your own innovative games
• How to enhance application development using packages contributed by the Lua community
• Steps for presenting dynamic information on your web site

Who this book is for

This book is for beginning programmers, game developers, and web site developers who are interested in a simple yet powerful introduction to programming.

Wrox Beginning guides are crafted to make learning programming languages and technologies easier than you think, providing a structured, tutorial format that will guide you through all the techniques involved.

Edition details

• Publisher: Wrox
• Publication date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0470069171
• ISBN 13: 9780470069172
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 672