Re: Getting Started with Lua

["Pierre Chapuis" <catwell@...>]

> Yes, the Lua manual is quite excellent, and is one of my favourite
> features
> of the language. (What good is a language with poor documentation? It may
> offer lots of power, but that's no use if you can't figure out how to use
> it.) It definitely isn't, however, a tutorial suitable for someone new to
> the language. (nor should it be!) That'd be a bit like trying to learn a
> spoken language by reading the dictionary.

Actually I have learnt Lua by reading the manual. I think it is one of the
few languages where you can do this, the trick being that you must already
know other languages before (it is not possible to learn how to program
with it).

I know I am not alone, too. Julien Danjou (creator of the Awesome WM) gave
a talk where he said he learnt his Lua in one day with the help of the
Manual.

Regarding the "getting started" page, I think what it lacks is an
explanation of how you can use Lua as a general purpose programming
language. That means giving pointers to Luarocks, and maybe a few
important libraries like LuaSocket, Penlight, maybe Luiz's libraries page.

Also, Lua has a forum?! I have been using it for almost 5 years, following
lua-l and all, and I never knew :)

-- 
Pierre Chapuis