Tutorial Directory

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You can find more about this page in LuaTutorial. It is suggested you read the topics from top to bottom, as they increase in complexity, except when one topic depends on another. TutorialExamples explains how the examples have been created and you can follow them. The tutorial is written for the current version of Lua, version 5.2, and the previous version, 5.1. This is because they are both commonly used. The LuaShortReference is a useful helper. If you would like to make any comments about the tutorial please do so on the TutorialComments page (or contact the primary author NickTrout).

LuaTypesTutorial - A gentle introduction to variable types used in Lua.
AssignmentTutorial - More on setting variable values.
NumbersTutorial - The Lua number type and related functions.
StringsTutorial - String (text) usage and related functions.
OperatorsTutorial - Using arithmetic and logical operators.
ControlStructureTutorial - Keywords if, while, repeat, for, break.
TablesTutorial - Lua tables and related functions.
FunctionsTutorial - Introduction to functions.
ScopeTutorial - Introduction to local variables and closures.
MetamethodsTutorial - Lua's powerful extension mechanism.
EnvironmentsTutorial - Lua's global namespace mechanism.
ModulesTutorial - Modules, grouping related code
ObjectOrientationTutorial - An introduction to simulating classes.
PatternsTutorial - String searching.
CoroutinesTutorial - Functions that can return part way through and then resume later.
IteratorsTutorial - Writing custom for iterators.
GarbageCollectionTutorial - What happens to deleted objects?
WeakTablesTutorial - Special table mode where elements are weak references.

Lua standard libraries - Brief explanation and examples of usage of each.
- CoreFunctionsTutorial - Basic functions e.g. dofile, assert, error, etc.
- MathLibraryTutorial - Mathematical functions
- StringLibraryTutorial - String manipulation
- TableLibraryTutorial - Table (or array) manipulation
- OsLibraryTutorial - Operating system facilities
- IoLibraryTutorial - Input/Output facilities - See section 5.7 of the Reference Manual [1]
- ModuleLibraryTutorial - Module facilities - See section 5.3 of the Reference Manual [2]
- DebugLibraryTutorial - Debugging facilities
- CoroutineLibraryTutorial? - Coroutine manipulation - See section 5.2 of the Reference Manual [3]

ForTutorial - Detail on the for statement.

More advanced Lua concepts.
- ThreadsTutorial - Using Lua in a pre-emptive threading environment.
- OptimisationTutorial? - Getting good performance from Lua. See OptimisationTips.
- InheritanceTutorial - A technique for implementing OO inheritance in Lua.

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Last edited June 26, 2014 5:35 pm GMT (diff)