Programming In Lua
by Roberto Ierusalimschy · first published 2003
71% recommend27% neutral2% critical
Why HN recommends it
Concise, clear and authoritative language guide by one of Lua's creators, often likened to K&R. Covers the whole language, including coroutines, metamethods and the C API; suits programmers learning Lua quickly.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
Related books
2007–2026Programming Erlang
Joe Armstrong
Recommended by 69 · mentioned by 9569 recommend · 95 mention69 recommend · 9569 recommend
2007–2026Accelerated C++
Andrew Koenig, Barbara E. Moo
Recommended by 47 · mentioned by 6047 recommend · 60 mention47 recommend · 6047 recommend
2009–2026Smalltalk best practice patterns
Kent Beck
Recommended by 17 · mentioned by 2417 recommend · 24 mention17 recommend · 2417 recommend
2009–2025C Traps and Pitfalls
Andrew Koenig
Recommended by 19 · mentioned by 2419 recommend · 24 mention19 recommend · 2419 recommend
2016–2025Nim in Action
Dominik Picheta
Recommended by 19 · mentioned by 3119 recommend · 31 mention19 recommend · 3119 recommend
2009–2025C# in Depth
Jon Skeet
Recommended by 29 · mentioned by 3929 recommend · 39 mention29 recommend · 3929 recommend
2009–2023C, a reference manual
Samuel P. Harbison, Guy L. Steele Jr.
Recommended by 30 · mentioned by 4130 recommend · 41 mention30 recommend · 4130 recommend
2010–2025The Joy of Clojure
Michael Fogus, Chris Houser
Recommended by 72 · mentioned by 11772 recommend · 117 mention72 recommend · 11772 recommend
…good: "The Implementation of Lua 5.0" (http://www.tecgraf.puc-rio.br/~lhf/ftp/doc/sblp2005.pdf). Past discussion: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=617278 If you want to learn Lua, Ierusalimschy's _Programming in Lua_ (http://www.inf.puc-rio.br/~roberto/pil2/) is by far the best book. Lua is one of my favorite languages. While it's good on its own, you'll get a lot more out of it if you're comfortable with C. Lua+C…
on “Love for LuaJIT” ↗…interesting books... 1. What would Machiavelli do 2. The Tao of Pooh 3. The Conquest of Bread On programming or engineering? 1. Pragmatic Programmer 2. Mr. Neighborlys Humble Little Ruby Book 3. Programming in Lua I feel put on the spot. I thought there would be more but I can't think of any at the moment. If you ever make a post asking for YouTube video suggestions, I'll definitely be able to comment on that…
on “Ask HN: What books do you recommend?” ↗…library that provides a drop-in scripting language for C projects. It's a also nice language in its own right, simple but very expressive, and stylistically somewhere between Python and Javascript. (_Programming in Lua_ by Ierusalimschy is the only book you need, though having a printed copy of the reference manual wouldn't hurt.) Prolog is a fun language. You'll probably need to stick with it a while before it switches…
on “Ask HN: Confused semi-newbie programmer needs some advice.” ↗I also want to defend Programming in Lua, which is probably the best single book devoted to a programming language that I've ever read (only K&R comes close). I'm not alone in thinking highly of it--on Amazon, of the 30 reviews, 25 give it 5…
on “Rethinking Programming Language Tutorials” ↗…(http://www.literateprogramming.com/ctraps.pdf) that grew into the book is even free online. Also, for anybody doing modern C work, I strongly recommend both Hanson's _C Interfaces and Implementations_ and Ierusalimschy's _Programming in Lua_, 2nd ed. The former nails writing good C libraries, and the latter covers one particular library that provides a portable, C-friendly, mature, efficient (http://luajit.org/), ready-made scripting language…
on “C Language Quirks” ↗Roberto Ierusalimschy's Programming in Lua, 2nd Ed. is an absolute gem. Well written, concise and very authoritative (he's one of the language's co-creators). One thing worth knowing though: he's working on the 3rd edition (updated for Lua 5.2),…
on “The evolution of Lua” ↗…technical books, but I was expecting something like "Theme X. This is what philosopher A thinks of it. This is what philosopher B thinks of it. This is how these theories clash". Probably gonna drop it. Programming in Lua, Roberto Ierusalimschy. The first programming language book I bought since college. IMO, Lua is the most well-designed and beautiful language yet (from the one I know). The book is clear, concise, full…
on “Ask HN: Which book are you reading these days?” ↗Programming in Lua by Roberto Ierusalimschy is one of the best introductions to any programming language. Hw writes the new version along with each language release now, on the grounds that if you cannot explain it right…
on “Ask HN: What are some of the best written programming books?” ↗…either - very specific and highly technical (e.g Schneier's "Applied Cryptography") - very general (e.g. Kernighan & Pike's "The Practice of Programming") or - define the language (e.g. Ierusalimschy's "Programming in Lua") it's pretty rare for me to find a good programming book that can both challenge me to think in a useful way and also be useful in other situations where I don't want to think. Hillegass's book is…
on “Holy crap, an Objective-C text that doesn’t assume you’re retarded” ↗…the web. The last such book I found was Kurt Jung and Aaron Brown's "Beginning Lua Programming". It's full of well-organized time-saving details and an excellent companion to Roberto Ierusalimschy's "Programming in Lua", a book at the same quality level as K&R's "The C Programming Language". Unless the price is an absolute bargin, I won't bother buying a printed book unless it's as good as those.
on “Do programmers still buy printed books?” ↗…doesn't really have a module system, per se. 5.1 also has a better garbage collector. LuaJIT (which is based on Lua 5.1) is also an option, if you're on 32-bit i386. For learning Lua, Ierusalimschy's _Programming in Lua_ is the best book, by leaps and bounds. There are a couple other Lua books, but that one is succinct yet comprehensive, like K&R and Pike's Bell Labs stuff. The Lua Users' Wiki (http://lua-users.org/wiki/)…
on “Why nobody talks about Lua” ↗While there aren't a whole lot of books about Lua, the official one (Ierusalimschy's _Programming in Lua_, 2nd ed., AKA, "the blue PiL") is excellent. That, the wiki, and mailing list archives (http://lua-users.org/) should pretty much cover things. The reference manual is also helpful, particularly for…
on “Project Euler” ↗…(in a ~200k C library), has prototype-based objects, a JSON-like native datatype, and a better JIT (http://luajit.org/) than any JS implementation thus far. Recommended introduction: Ierusalimschy's _Programming in Lua, 2nd ed._ (http://www.inf.puc-rio.br/~roberto/pil2/).
on “JavaScript - It’s a Real Language” ↗…useful exploration). But when switching between languages frequently, or when knowledge of one is getting a little rusty, something like this is just perfect. (I'll also take this chance to recommend 'Programming in Lua' by the creator - Roberto Ierusalimschy. It's really one the clearest, well-paced language texts I've read.)
on “Lua Cheat Sheet for Programmers” ↗If this piques your interest, the best way to learn Lua is probably Ierusalimschy's _Programming in Lua, 2nd ed._ (http://www.inf.puc-rio.br/~roberto/pil2/). That starts from square one and gets to advanced Lua programming, the C API, etc. in just over 300 pages. The first edition is free online (http://www.lua.org/pil/);…
on “Lua Tutorial” ↗