Lua offers a wide range of features that you can utilize to support and enhance your applications. With this book as your guide, you'll gain a thorough understanding of all aspects of programming with this powerful language. It will walk you through the basics, covering everything from installing Lua on your system to developing games and web sites. Experts Jung and Brown first present the fundamentals of programming and explain standard Lua functions. They then show you how to take advantage of all of the free Lua community resources that are available. Complete code samples are integrated throughout the chapters to clearly demonstrate how to apply the information. Diagrams are also included to highlight important Lua features such as stacks, hash tables, garbage collection, and function closures. All of this will help you to quickly write your own effective programs. What you will learn from this book * Ways to extend Lua's operators with metamethods * Methods on how to use tables, strings, and modules * How to handle events naturally with coroutines * Techniques for managing information with databases * Tips for handling and avoiding programming errors * Ways to create your own innovative games * How to enhance application development using packages contributed by the Lua community * Steps for presenting dynamic information on your web site Who this book is for This book is for beginning programmers, game developers, and web site developers who are interested in a simple yet powerful introduction to programming. Wrox Beginning guides are crafted to make learning programming languages and technologies easier than you think, providing a structured, tutorial format that will guide you through all the techniques involved.