Re: Suitability of Lua as a First Programming Language?

[steve donovan <steve.j.donovan@...>]

On Tue, Sep 22, 2009 at 10:27 AM, Jerome Vuarand
<jerome.vuarand@gmail.com> wrote:
> I think Lua would be a very good first programming language, it can
> teach most procedural languages features. However teaching some of its
> advanced features (like coroutines or tail calls) might make the
> transition to real world languages (ie. C++ and Java) harder.

A little feature envy never hurt anyone ;)  Another such feature is
having proper closures,  which opens up the way for the functional
style of programming.  Indeed, a lot of C++/Java class use is
compensating for lack of closures.

> Another point that could be problematic is that, still compared to C++
> and Java, Lua is fully imperative, while these former two are part
> imperative, part declarative. However most Lua programs and libraries
> are written in a pseudo-declarative style anyway, so that might not be
> a concern.

In those languages, declaration is essential, in Lua a matter of
style.  Whether this is considered a good thing, is itself a matter of
style.

steve d.