The double-edged programming language — Lua — easy for kids to learn and also powerful enough for developing powerful games!

Language is a medium to convey one’s emotions, thoughts and ideas. And we always prefer to use a language which is easy and effective. Similarly, a programming language that is easy yet powerful is the best choice.

When you want to boost-start your kid’s coding journey, the most common question which arises is which programming language should you start with. This article aims to provide you an answer to this question.

Lua is one such high-level programming language that is lightweight and designed primarily for embedded use in applications. Lua is a powerful and fast programming language that is easy to learn and use.

Lua is probably the perfect language to start with, and also can be picked up later too (in case you haven’t started with it yet). The best part about Lua is its wide application in developing games like Roblox, which helps teach your kids a set of useful life skills along with coding. This article elaborates on this and sums up the reason your kids can start learning Lua and implementing them into creating their own games.

Why is Lua a popular choice?

Lua is simple and easy, and can be edited using a text editor

The main reason for its popularity is that it is fast and simple. It is a lot simpler than other programming languages and can even be edited using a text editor.

This allows not only the designers but also the end-users to script and apply logic to events, without the need to share the source code. It is easier and incorporates dynamic typing which allows writing brief codes focused on game logic.

It is a scripting language allowing users to tweak and turn the behavior, making it personally customized without the need to recompile the code. Thus this scripting tool is flexible and can be accessed by a wide range of users.

It is one of the fastest languages to be interpreted owing to its minimal runtime footprint. It is a hackable ANSI C code base, which is small and portable.

Powerful features of this simple programming language

Lua has a very clean, simple API which is based on short and simple, to the point logic.

But this doesn’t restrict its ability to be applied in complex scenarios as well.

It has a small footprint, yet is fast and delivers a high-quality performance.

It’s the most widely used embedded scripting language, particularly in game development.

It is a dynamic language where the variable needn’t point to a specific predefined object type. It doesn’t require explicitly defining classes/objects before using them.

It has a small standard library and is Unicode compatible, making implementation easier and simpler.

Why is Lua integrated into game development?

Love2D provides framework to create 2D game in Lua programming language

Lua has the fastest Just in time (JIT) implementation, owing to its minimalistic design. Its popularity in the gaming industry is mainly due to its speed and efficiency.

Lua is flexible and easy to integrate into game engines. It is high level and can readily be used by game level designers.

It allows modifying parts of the game even while it is running, without the need for the code to be restarted or recompiled. Further, owing to its feature of not fixing the object type at the time of compilation, it provides a flexible code to assign different functions to the same object while using different character classes.

For example, in most of the role-playing games, if the control assigns a particular key for jumping within a game while playing the role of one character, the same key can be used for flying, while using another character. This makes the code flexible. Using Lua scripting on the front end makes the process faster allowing rapid game/app development, eliminating the need to recompile and also allowing users to customize the game behavior as desired.

Why is Lua best suited for kids?

Lua is probably the simplest programming language to learn and can be picked up quite easily, thus best suited for kids and beginners.

Moreover, it can be learnt in a fun-filled manner through games. Love2D provides a framework for building 2D games in Lua and Roblox allows players to create 3D world games in Lua. It lets you visualize your creations while having fun and thus makes it even more interesting. Many of the other famous video games like Angry Birds, Civilization V, Star Wars Battlefront, World of Warcraft, Stepmania, Far Cry and many more use Lua.

There are fewer concepts in this language with lesser words and constructs to memorize, which makes it easy and simpler to understand. (Simplicity is a virtue, right?) Even then, using lexical scope makes it powerful enough. Its simplicity shifts the focus to the main point: to develop a programmer’s mindset, thus teaching them how to think and not what to think.

There are hundreds of Roblox scripting tutorials that teach the basics of this programming language. Roblox provides kids with highly marketable skills that can facilitate opportunities for them in the future.

Lua is a versatile scripting language that has been used to make thousands of games, business applications, and other software, and thus is in high demand. Lua can teach kids important coding concepts such as conditionals, loops, variables and more while enjoying games such as Roblox.

Roblox as a means to teach Lua programming

Roblox is a global online gaming platform and game creation system where millions of people gather together to imagine, create, and share experiences with each other in immersive, user-generated 3D worlds. It allows users to program games and play games created by other users.

Roblox is based on Lua programming language, which the platform’s code editor uses. It is a fun tool to teach Lua programming to your kids in a simple and easy way. Teaching them the basics of a programming language while they play and enjoy, is the best possible way out there. (If you are interested in knowing more about Roblox and its benefits, refer to our article on Roblox here).

We at Turing Ninjas provide courses for building Roblox Obby (Obstacle Course) Game. Under proper guidance, your kids would learn to code and put their creativity into good use. If interested, contact us here!

Learning something new is never a bad idea. Especially when that skill is useful and easy to learn.

The above-mentioned points might have made it clear why Lua is popular and worth giving a try.

If your kids have already started their tech journey and know a bit of programming, Lua is going to be super easy for them to learn and hence must definitely be given a try. However, even if they are beginners, Lua has the ability to be understood by them quite easily and in a very short time.

So, think about it and make up your mind. Scripting games wouldn’t ever be so easy again. Learning Lua is actually fun, and make sure your kids don’t miss it!