Overview
Lua is an easy to use scripting language that is used as an embedded plugin/extension language in different products. For example, it is the embedded scripting language of network applications like nmap and wireshark, and can also be found as a scripting language in World of Warcraft, Orbiter and other games.
Lua can also be used as a standalone language. It is a lightweight, multi-paradigm programming language and therefore the course teaches various concepts that students will find useful in other areas of software engineering as well.
This course covers the basic programming constructs in Lua and contains a lot of programming exercises, so that newcomers can gain proficiency with the language, starting from scratch.
After completing the course the students will be able to write middle sized standalone Lua programs and script software products where Lua is the embedded language.
Requirements
Familiarity with at least one other programming language. Programming experience. Optionally if you have familiarity with other scripting languages, that will make it easier to understand Lua.
Course Outline
Introduction to Lua
- A bit of history
- Lua’s goals, features and non-goals
- Resources of Lua documentation and tutorials
- Installing the Lua interpreter
- Setting up and using LuaRocks
Basic syntax and semantics
- Identifiers
- Comments, block comments
- Global variables and enforcing of strictness
- Local variables
- Standalone programs, program arguments
- Compilation units, chunks, expressions, semicolons
Data types and data structures
- Basic types: nil, boolean, number, string
- Object types: function, userdata, thread, table
- References/objects vs. basic values
- The importance of tables in Lua
Introduction to tables and their versatility
- Tables as an associative array
- Tables as numeric arrays, sequences
Basic control structures
- The if then elseif else end
- The while loop
- The repeat loop
- The simple for loop
Error handling
- Return values vs exceptions
- Converting a return value to an exception
- Converting an exception to a return value
- Error levels
Example programs
- Polynomial evaluation
- Breadth first search
- Additional exercises
More about functions
- Named arguments
- Object-oriented calls
- Closures
- Currying
- Tail calls
- Multiple assignment and return
- Varargs
Iterators and co-routines
- The generic for loop
- Stateless vs stateful iterators
- Differences between iterators and co-routines
Metatables and metamethods
- The set example
- The __tostring metamethod
- Arithmetic metamethods
- The __index, __newindex metamethods
- The __len metamethod
Modules and packages
- Using modules
- Creating modules
- Organizing modules into packages
Object-oriented programming
- The building blocks of OOP in Lua
- Examples
Discussion on more advanced language features
- Weak tables
- Finalizers
- Compilation, eval, loading