- Introduction to Lua: What is Lua and Why Learn It?
- Setting Up Lua: Installation and Configuration
- Your First Lua Program: "Hello, World!"
- Understanding Lua Syntax: Structure and Formatting
- Lua Data Types: Numbers, Strings, and Booleans
- Variables and Constants in Lua: Declaration and Usage
- Basic Arithmetic in Lua: Performing Calculations
- Strings in Lua: Concatenation, Manipulation, and Functions
- Control Flow in Lua:
if, else, elseif, and while
- Loops in Lua:
for, while, and repeat-until
- Functions in Lua: Defining and Calling Functions
- Basic Input and Output in Lua: Reading and Printing Data
- Working with Tables in Lua: Introduction to Lua's Only Data Structure
- Arrays in Lua: Indexing and Manipulating Lists
- Using Functions as First-Class Citizens in Lua
- Understanding Local and Global Variables in Lua
- Lua's
nil Type: Representing Uninitialized and Missing Values
- Operators in Lua: Arithmetic, Comparison, and Logical
- Introduction to Error Handling in Lua:
pcall and xpcall
- Debugging Lua Code: Tools and Techniques for Troubleshooting
- Working with Tables: Associative Arrays and Dictionary-Like Structures
- Functions in Lua: Anonymous Functions and Closures
- Lua Metatables: Introducing Object-Oriented Concepts
- Advanced Table Techniques in Lua:
__index, __newindex, and __call
- Using
pairs and ipairs for Iteration in Tables
- Scoping in Lua: Local vs Global Variables
- Recursion in Lua: Writing Recursive Functions
- String Manipulation in Lua:
string.match, string.gmatch, and more
- Lua's Coroutines: Introduction to Lightweight Concurrency
- Managing State with Lua's Coroutines:
yield and resume
- Using Modules in Lua: Introduction to
require and module
- Error Handling in Lua: Custom Error Messages and Debugging
- Pattern Matching in Lua: Using
string.find and string.sub
- File Handling in Lua: Reading from and Writing to Files
- Working with Dates and Times in Lua: Using
os.date and os.time
- The
math Library: Advanced Math Functions in Lua
- Table Libraries:
table.sort, table.insert, and table.remove
- Understanding the
package Library: Managing Lua Packages
- Lua's
load and loadfile: Loading and Executing Lua Code Dynamically
- The
debug Library: Accessing Runtime Information
- Creating a Simple Command-Line Application in Lua
- Working with JSON in Lua: Parsing and Generating JSON Data
- Building Simple Applications with Lua and SQLite
- Introduction to Object-Oriented Programming in Lua
- Using Lua's
setmetatable to Simulate Classes
- Handling Large Data Structures in Lua
- Using Lua's
os Library: System-Level Operations
- Creating a Simple Web Server with Lua
- Introduction to Networking in Lua: Using Sockets and
luasocket
- Introduction to Unit Testing in Lua: Using
busted Framework
- Advanced Metatables in Lua:
__metatable and __gc
- Lua's Garbage Collection: Customizing and Understanding the GC
- Performance Optimization in Lua: Profiling and Reducing Memory Usage
- Creating and Managing Libraries in Lua
- Building a Lua-based Plugin System
- Lua for Game Development: Introduction to Love2D Framework
- Lua's
loadstring vs load: Dynamic Code Execution and Security
- Building High-Performance Applications in Lua
- Writing and Using C Libraries in Lua: Extending Lua with C
- LuaJIT: Introduction to Just-In-Time Compilation
- Using Lua in Embedded Systems: Lua for IoT Development
- Using Lua for Scripting in Game Engines
- Interfacing Lua with C++: FFI (Foreign Function Interface) Usage
- Managing Lua's Memory: Allocators and Efficient Memory Usage
- Implementing Custom Data Structures in Lua
- Lua's Object-Oriented Programming: Inheritance and Polymorphism
- Writing Lua for Multithreading and Concurrency
- Lua for Networking: Building a Server-Client Application
- Using Lua in Web Development: Building a REST API with Lua
- Creating Cross-Platform Applications with Lua
- Building a Lua-based GUI Application with LÖVE or IUP
- Lua’s Optimization Techniques: Minimizing Garbage Collection
- Lua and Functional Programming: Higher-Order Functions and Closures
- Writing Lua Extensions: Using
ffi for Performance
- Building and Managing Complex Lua Projects with
luarocks
- Lua's
os Library: Working with File Permissions and Processes
- Debugging Lua in Depth: Memory Leaks, Stack Traces, and Profiling
- Building Secure Lua Scripts: Best Practices for Secure Code
- Using Lua for Machine Learning: Integrating Lua with TensorFlow or Torch
- Lua for Web Scraping: Parsing and Extracting Data from Websites
- Customizing the Lua Interpreter: Extending the Lua Shell
- Advanced Networking in Lua: Asynchronous I/O and Event Loops
- Using Lua with Redis: Building Real-Time Applications
- Using Lua for Automation: Scripting System Tasks
- Lua’s Role in Robotics: Lua for Autonomous Systems
- Introduction to Distributed Systems Programming with Lua
- Writing Lua for Cloud Computing and AWS Lambda
- Lua in Databases: Integrating Lua with NoSQL and SQL Databases
- Handling Parallelism in Lua: Managing Multiple Tasks
- Building a Full-Featured Web Application with Lua and OpenResty
- Building Cross-Platform Lua Apps with Android and iOS
- Using Lua for Data Science: Integrating with R or Python Libraries
- Lua in High-Frequency Trading: Building Low-Latency Systems
- Building a Lua-Based AI Agent for Games or Simulations
- Lua and Blockchain: Writing Smart Contracts in Lua
- Lua for Virtualization and Cloud-Oriented Applications
- Performance Tuning in Lua: Profiling and Benchmarking Techniques
- Advanced Unit Testing and Mocking in Lua
- Best Practices for Structuring Lua Projects for Maintainability
- The Future of Lua: Trends, New Libraries, and Evolving Practices
This list covers everything from the basics of Lua syntax and data structures to more advanced topics like metaprogramming, object-oriented design, performance optimization, and building real-world applications. It’s designed to take readers from the fundamentals to proficiency in Lua, enabling them to use Lua in various fields such as web development, game development, embedded systems, machine learning, and more.