Re: And news of a 5th Edition Lua Book

[Russell Haley <russ.haley@...>]

Sorry for the top post. I'll be buying the book to support the Lua authors.

Russ

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	  Original Message  	


From: martin.n.angers@gmail.com
Sent: January 7, 2021 8:47 AM
To: lua-l@lists.lua.org
Reply-to: lua-l@lists.lua.org
Subject: Re: And news of a 5th Edition Lua Book


> > We have taken an interest on Lua and want to purchase reading material to
> > get familiar with Lua. But I noticed that the 4th edition released in 2016
> > is made with 5.3 in mind. I wondered if there is a 5th  edition in the
> > making that will soon be published, because with an untrained eye it seems
> > like the changes in 5.4 are quite significant
> >
>
> There was an edition for each of 5.0, 5.1, 5.2, and 5.3. I have no doubt
> that 5.4 is being worked on. IIRC, the book is self-published, so the
> Lua
> team has full control of when a new edition is released.

If I may add, I have the 4th edition and it is a _fantastic_ book. Not
only is it a fantastic _Lua_ book, it sets a high bar for any
_programming_ book, with relevant details and idioms, great non-trivial
examples and useful exercises, and in-depth coverage of every part of
the language. I will certainly get the 5.4 edition when/if it comes out,
but in the meantime note that much of the 4th edition still applies.

Incompatibilities are relatively small:
http://www.lua.org/manual/5.4/manual.html#8

The README lists the changes in 5.4 vs 5.3, IMO the biggest changes are
actually additions (<close>, <const>, warn):
http://www.lua.org/manual/5.4/readme.html#changes