Ask HN: Why is Lua not favored by more SaSS for business logic?

2 pointsTenal5y ago2 comments

I've been reading extensively about Lua's prevalence in the game industry, and how well it handles primary game logic and game extensibility/modding while C/C++/etc can be reserved for mission-critical engine needs, etc.

From the code I've read, Lua is easy to read and I hear it's really great to write in, and it's performance seems to be quite high.

Comparatively in the startup and SaSS world I almost never hear about it. Is there any profound reason why? Is it because it doesn't quite fit into web technology stacks as well? Is Lua simply better when we're talking about high-performing desktop apps, where the painful alternative is to simply do it all in C/C++/Rust?

2 comments

mickduprez5y ago

Lua really is more of a 'scripting' language (like Python _used_ to be) designed to make API's/DSL's for your Game/Application so end users with minimal programming experience can 'automate' the application. It's main purpose is as a wrapper over the native application functionality to help people with limited programming knowledge or experience automate their daily tasks, not to 'extend' or build the application. It's simple, clean and quick to learn, the API does most of the hard work for you, you just tack it together as needed with a script.

thesuperbigfrog5y ago

Most enterprise software is written in Java or C# / .NET and more recently Golang and Rust.

Lua might do just as well, but it did not get marketed to businesses the way that Java and C# were in the early 2000s.

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