21 lines
1.1 KiB
Text
21 lines
1.1 KiB
Text
Lua is a powerful, light-weight programming language designed for
|
|
extending applications. Lua is also frequently used as a
|
|
general-purpose, stand-alone language.
|
|
|
|
Lua combines simple procedural syntax (similar to Pascal) with
|
|
powerful data description constructs based on associative arrays and
|
|
extensible semantics. Lua is dynamically typed, interpreted from
|
|
bytecodes, and has automatic memory management, making it ideal for
|
|
configuration, scripting, and rapid prototyping.
|
|
|
|
Lua is a language engine that you can embed into your application.
|
|
This means that, besides syntax and semantics, Lua has an API that
|
|
allows the application to exchange data with Lua programs and also to
|
|
extend Lua with C functions. In this sense, Lua can be regarded as a
|
|
language framework for building domain-specific languages.
|
|
|
|
Lua is implemented as a small library of C functions, written in ANSI
|
|
C, and compiles unmodified in all known platforms. The implementation
|
|
goals are simplicity, efficiency, portability, and low embedding cost.
|
|
The result is a fast language engine with small footprint, making it
|
|
ideal in embedded systems too.
|