Tutorial Learning how to write script ( .lua )

i recently found a guide that might be a good reference for those of you that want to learn how to script. its not the latest edition but its free and should still be somewhat relevant.

http://www.lua.org/pil/contents.html#P1 ( official guide)

below is also a list of added links that may also be of use

• http://tylerneylon.com/a/learn-lua/ added by vileRaisin ( its short but useful for people with previous experience in programming)
• https://gist.github.com/jordoh/7864154 added by severedskullz ( although it is already in game it still provides some reference for creating script)
• http://www.phailed.me/2011/02/learn-lua-the-hard-way-1/ added by vileRaisin (a great beginners guide)
  
• http://lua-users.org/wiki/LearningLua added by vileRaisin ( a site that features guides made by LUA programmers)

 

\Starbound\assets\scripts also seems to hold some useful information.

 

Yes some informations are given, but it holds only the API which is used in Starbound. How to learn LUA has given the author the most best link.

 

correct; its useful for finding out what variables are already declared, but learning the programming language will help you understand how it works and help you fix or avoid future problems.

 

Here you go guys

 

The LUA API is allready included in Starbound:
./assets/scripts/API

 

It may already be included but the link he provided makes it much easier to look through them

 

*g* you talking with a programmer. The Author of this thread has allready postet the right link to the syntax of LUA.

 

Actually with the code you could essentially just reverse engineer it

 

1. Reverse Engineering on Starbound is not allowed! copyrighted code!
2. guys whats the problem with LUA API that is build in? You got so many possibilities that you can done and you have nothing better to do as reverse engineering?

Sometimes i loose my trust in human beeings...

Sorry, missinterpretation.

 

I both agree and disagree. Bad code may still yield desired results but can also look ugly as hell. A computer is a machine... feed it code and it will do what it's told. Knowing the API for a given system will likely get most of the job done and the user can kinda get the rest with trial and error without knowing the language. However, I agree with you in the sense that it's only half of the process as they still should know how the language works. Being a self-taught... The best way to learn is trial, error, and fiddling.

 

You are taking reverse engineering way too far and way out of context (I meant with the current LUAs we have access to)

 

I think the miscommunication is based on the fact that reading/analyzing sourced code is something entirely different from reverse engineering. Reverse engineering suggests that you have to take an existing piece of hardware/software apart to try and analyze its working, the reason behind it being that you would not have any access to the processes that created the final product. In the case of starbound mods, the mod is the final product, and not the LUA/JSON code. In this context, you're not reverse engineering anything because the inner workings of the mod is readily available.

So simply saying "analyzing" or "reading" the code would suffice.

I know, bit of a smartass comment, but I guess it just saves a bit of discussion on a simple miscommunication.

And to add to the discussion, I learned the basics of LUA from: http://tylerneylon.com/a/learn-lua/
Although it's meant for people who already have some knowledge of other coding languages, it's still a nice overview.

 

thanks for the link , not really a tutorial for people just getting into programming , but for those of us that already know at least one programming language it would be useful. i will have to start creating a list for all the useful guides and tutorials.

 

If you're creating a list, might I suggest the following links:

http://www.phailed.me/2011/02/learn-lua-the-hard-way-1/
http://lua-users.org/wiki/LearningLua

 

thanks those will make a great addition to the list, its too bad none of the guides mention the importance of indentation, camel casing, and writing pseudo code and flowcharts before writing the language.

 

one thing that s really, really bugging me:

ITS "Lua" Not "LUA" it doesnt stand for anything, at all. There i'm happy