User:SuzannaLinn Resident/Lua

Introducing Lua: The New Scripting Language for SL.

Lua for SL (SLua) has arrived to the Beta grid. I'm adding a new section "Moving from LSL to SLua" explaining how to rewrite our LSL scripts in SLua.

In these pages, I am compiling information about Lua and SLua (the version of Lua for SL) to give you an overview of their features and functionalities.

• The sections The language: Lua compared to LSL and The language: Lua beyond LSL are based on the standard Lua language. I wrote them before Lua arrived to the beta grid.

• I'm currently writing the section Moving from LSL to SLua based on the SL version of Lua: SLua. This section will be growing in the next days and weeks.

If LSL is your main scripting language and you want to expand your programming skills beyond SL, learning Lua is a great next step. Lua introduces powerful features and modern programming concepts that will broaden your knowledge and make it easier to transition to modern, in-demand languages like C#, Python, and JavaScript.

Lua index

• History
  • What is Lua?
  • Why Lua?
  • Which Lua?
  • SLua?

• The language: Lua compared to LSL
  • Types and variables
  • Operators
  • If, while, for, repeat
  • Functions, ll functions
  • Tables as lists
  • Tables as (key, value) pairs (like the linkset data)
  • Tables of functions instead of if...elseif chain
  • Events and states

• The language: Lua beyond LSL
  • Tables as lists of lists
  • Functions, parameters and returns
  • Functions, anonymous functions
  • Sorting dictionary tables
  • Closures
  • For and iterators
  • Metatables and metamethods
  • Objects
  • Objects and encapsulation
  • Objects and inheritance
  • Objects and inheritance with functions override
  • Objects and abstract classes
  • Objects and multiple inheritance
  • Error handling
  • Libraries
  • Modules and packages
  • Debugging
  • Co-routines

• Moving from LSL to SLua

• Future
  • When will SLua be available on the main grid?
  • Will LSL scripts benefit from being compiled to VM Luau instead of VM Mono?
  • Will SLua scripts have more memory?
  • Will LSL continue to exist?
  • Will LSL receive updates with new functions?
  • Will there be any way to use the functions not added in LSL?
  • Will there be a translator or transpiler to convert LSL source code into SLua source code?
  • Will we have to move to SLua?
  • Should we stop learning LSL and wait for SLua?
  • Will SLua be updated to the new versions of Luau?
  • Will LSL scripts compiled in VM Mono be automatically recompiled to VM Luau?
  • Will there be an option to choose between compiling to VM Luau or to VM Mono?

• Links
  • Standard Lua
  • Luau
  • SLua