Lua

Comments

-- Two dashes start a one-line comment.

--[[
     Adding two ['s and ]'s makes it a
     multi-line comment.
--]]

Variables

Numbers

num = 42  -- All numbers are doubles.

Strings

s = 'walternate'  -- Immutable strings like Python.
t = "double-quotes are also fine"
u = [[ Double brackets
       start and end
       multi-line strings.]]
-- String concatenation uses the .. operator:
message = 'Winter is coming, ' .. line

Empty / Null

t = nil  -- Undefines t; Lua has garbage collection.

Global Variables

  -- Variables are global by default.
  thisIsGlobal = 5  -- Camel case is common.

Local Variables

  -- How to make a variable local:
  local line = io.read()  -- Reads next stdin line.

If Statement

if num < 40 then
  print('below 40')
elseif name ~= 'wayne' then  
  -- ~= is not equals.
  -- Equality check is == like Python; ok for strs.
  io.write('over 40 and Name is wayne\n')  -- Defaults to stdout.
else
  print('above 40')
end

-- Undefined variables return nil. -- This is not an error: foo = anUnknownVariable -- Now foo = nil.

aBoolValue = false

-- Only nil and false are falsy; 0 and are true! if not aBoolValue then print('twas false') end

-- 'or' and 'and' are short-circuited. -- This is similar to the a?b:c operator in C/js: ans = aBoolValue and 'yes' or 'no' --> 'no'

Loops

While

-- Blocks are denoted with keywords like do/end:
while num < 50 do
  num = num + 1  -- No ++ or += type operators.
end

For

karlSum = 0
for i = 1, 100 do  -- The range includes both ends.
  karlSum = karlSum + i
end

-- Use "100, 1, -1" as the range to count down:
fredSum = 0
for j = 100, 1, -1 do 
   fredSum = fredSum + j 
end

-- In general, the range is begin, end[, step].

Repeat / Do While

-- Another loop construct:
repeat
  print('the way of the future')
  num = num - 1
until num == 0