You may have come across the name Lua in your time on the internet and been confused about what it means. To the uninitiated, the term may seem like gibberish.

This article will teach you exactly what Lua is and what it's used for.

What Is Lua?

Lua is a lightweight, high-level programming language invented in the mid-90s in Brazil. Lightweight means that it doesn't require a lot of memory to run and that it's easy to learn and use due to its less complicated syntax.

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"High-level" is a term used in programming to refer to languages that are generally much easier for humans to understand. This is because they tend to use terms that are closer to human language rather than machine code. High-level languages also tend to simplify a lot of the more complicated processes involved in software development.

Roblox Studio with game being developed

The name, Lua, means Moon in Portuguese, and the language has been utilized in many applications for its ease of use. Several video games have been developed using the language, and some aspiring young programmers even learn Lua as their first language.

The reason so many new programmers use Lua: the basics can be picked up in a few days.

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Where Will You Find Lua?

There are a lot of applications that use Lua in their development tools. Adobe Lightroom uses Lua to make part of its user interface, and game engines like CRYENGINE have used it for their user script.

Roblox Studio code screen with Lua code

By far, one of the most popular uses for Lua online is the game Roblox. This game-creation platform is aimed at children and allows them to create their own games. Lua is used as the language to program these games, mostly because of its ease to learn and use.

That's What Lua Is

Hopefully, you'll be much less confused now about what exactly Lua is. If anyone else seems confused about it, then you can help steer them in the right direction.

The great news about Lua, among most other programming languages, is that you can learn it for free from any number of resources.