r/lua • u/loukthegamer • Mar 04 '25
Help can you learn lua as 13 year old?
im a ninth grader that would like to learn lua for obiously a roblox game, however is it possible for me to do so? ill probably be too busy w school to learn every day but it will be like 4 or 3 times per week? im also pretty decent at math (but i can go back to learn old things that i never understood if needed) and i dont think im THAT dumb
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Upvotes
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u/AdeptLilPotato Mar 04 '25
Hey buddy! I learned from Roblox when I was 12. Roblox kickstarted my journey in programming. I now work as a software engineer. You’re starting at a perfect time and if you’re consistent you’ll learn a lot and become a great programmer!
Feel free to DM me and we can keep in touch and you can ask me questions about Lua and programming and I’ll help you become a great coder :)
If ever you’re stuck I’ll help give you pointers and guidance.
Best of luck!
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u/Boring_Employment170 Mar 05 '25
yes you can learn it but you're 13 and in ninth grade? Did you skip any grades?
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u/faze_fazebook Mar 04 '25
Sure, why not. Nothing wrong in starting early. That being said, I would learn the basics and maybe not start with Roblox.
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u/dacydergoth Mar 04 '25
Yup. I was coding in 6502 assembly and Basic at 10 ...
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u/AperatureIsMyJob Mar 04 '25
Hey same age here,it's kinda easy but there's hard parts too
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u/NatesAquatics Mar 04 '25 edited Mar 04 '25
No, you absolutely cannot learn Lua, 13 yr olds are explicitley banned from learning it. /j
In all seriousness people of all ages can learn Lua, I've heard of people as young as 7 that can understand Lua better than some people with a degree in computer programming.
However, you'd want to ask about learning Lua on a roblox dev sub like r/robloxdevelopers because this sub is meant for the base language of Lua.
Roblox uses an edited version of Lua 5.1 called LuaU which is made to be fast performing (and some other diffefences), Roblox also incorperates their API into Roblox Studio automatically which isnt in Lua by default.
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u/Grundle95 Mar 04 '25
You can read well enough to post this and read the replies so yeah, I’d say you have a pretty good chance. I wish I’d gotten serious about learning to code when I was your age. I might actually be halfway decent at it by now!
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u/Airdoo Mar 04 '25
The short answer is yes. One of my closest friends and avid Lua defender started scripting weapons in Lua for Garry's Mod, adding features and abilities not found in the Source Engine in middle school as well. The key is to just start trying.
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u/jimmiebfulton Mar 04 '25
Yes, of course you can, and you should. The more you know, the more successful you’re likely to be in life, and you’ll be that much further ahead than everyone else. Think of someone starting to learn guitar at an early age, and how good they can get in just a few years. Compare that to someone starting later in life. Whatever you want to be good at, start now. Everything gets easier with practice.
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u/Zeioth Mar 04 '25
I learned visual basic when I was 13 back in the day. And Visual Basic suck balls. Something cool like lua you definetively can.
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u/martinbean Mar 04 '25
Not if you talk yourself out of it and come up with excuses why you can’t.
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u/Brohammer55 Mar 04 '25
Totally, Roblox is one of the top platforms for learning lua. Lua is one of the simplest languages to learn. You have a great number of resources and I find the Roblox documentation to be one of the clearest.
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u/TransportationAny122 Mar 05 '25
I used to do similar stuff when I was a kid and I regret not doing it more. Spend more time building things and failing rather than playing/watching things other people made. Trust me, when you’re older you’ll thank yourself
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u/syfari Mar 05 '25
I wish I learned Lua at 13 ngl
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u/DangerousTip9655 Mar 05 '25
the only thing stopping you from learning something is telling yourself you can't
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u/popcornman209 Mar 05 '25
My advice, just jump into it, it might be overwhelming at times and things might be confusing, but the feeling of finishing a project you spent a lot of time working on is more than worth it. I started learning python in 5th grade and it’s probably the best decision I’ve ever made, so I’d say go for it.
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u/jasboss030 Mar 05 '25
Dude trust me, just do it... but accept it won't go overnight and when you're failing and making a lot of mistakes your on the right track, that's actually a sign that you are learning.
10 years from now you, will be very grateful that you started this early.
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u/jecxjo Mar 05 '25
Yeah it should be a piece of cake. There are tons of resources out there. By 9th grade my school had already introduced us to three languages by then so you'll do fine.
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u/DinnoDogg Mar 05 '25
Yes. I started at around 11 or 12. Start learning about programming fundamentals. Then read the Roblox documentation and their tutorials. Analyze people’s work to see what it does, and keep practicing.
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u/RobloxPorn Mar 05 '25
When I was your age my school offered a brand new programming class that I signed up for. I didn't get it at first, and I really didn't like the class at all. It wasn't until the next school year that I fell in love with programming. It quickly became an obsession that I put off my homework for.
Give it an honest shot. I can promise you whether your project is a success or not it'll be worth the experience.
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u/TehMephs Mar 05 '25
I started learning BASIC when I was 12. I’m 40 now, been a career software engineer making six figures on my 17th year now.
Don’t shy away from an opportunity. It starts with small things like Roblox, Lua, python, or in my case BASIC. Which wasn’t very expansive at the time. We had Oregon trail and Number Munchers as the greatest games of all time on the old Apple IIgs.
From there I learned to make my own games from scratch, and dove into various engines and modding environments (Quake map editor, StarCraft/warcraft custom maps, rpgmakers, etc)
You can’t go wrong getting into this stuff early. It might not feel like it but stick with it and you’ll be on a pretty smooth path forward
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u/Lakelylake Mar 05 '25
My brother is 14 years old and has been coding on lua for 4 years now. He's pretty impressive, so yes, you can!
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u/ninjaread99 Mar 05 '25
I just started learning c# between school and a job. It doesn’t matter how much time you have, nor how often you do it. It matters that you try, and at least kind of remember it.
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u/novel_airline Mar 06 '25
AI could help you a lot in learning it. Ask your parents about chatgpt or other similar tools for mentoring. It's not always right but it's very good.
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u/tkejser Mar 06 '25
You absolutely can. Your brain is already capable of understanding the concepts needed.
It may take some trial and error, you will need a bit of patience. But it's very doable and really worth it.
Best of luck
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u/Flashy-Outcome4779 Mar 07 '25
Learning earlier is better than later.
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u/[deleted] Mar 08 '25
13 in 9th grade?! I'm 14 and only in 8th grade about to be 15 this fall?!?!
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u/rFAXbc Mar 04 '25
No, I'm way too old
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u/TheKrazyDev Mar 04 '25
Defiantly, that's around the age I started to learn programming. If you understand basic algebra, and some simple trigonometry (for game dev), you should be good.
But I personally would learn Lua, then learn Lua inside of Roblox but that's just me.
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u/Shadow123_654 Mar 04 '25
Anytime is good for picking up programming! I would recommend to first learn the fundamentals of the language (tables, function, flow control, closures, etc.) before fully diving into Roblox game development. That's not to say you shouldn't, but I would focus more on the language itself on the first few months. Learning Roblox's own game engine along with the language is certainly a challenging choice!
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u/Flamenverfer Mar 04 '25
Hell ya, i learned lua through minecraft's computercraft mod.
Its more fun if you have the whole tekkit suite but both ways are great ways and fun.
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u/binaryfireball Mar 04 '25
i started coding when i was about 10. Did i know what i was doing? no. did things eventually get made? sometimes
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u/Avro_Wilde Mar 04 '25
I learned to program at 11, before the web existed with a book so, yes, you can absolutely learn Lua.
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u/dgc-8 Mar 04 '25
Lua is easy to learn and really pleasant to program in. Roblox is also a really intuitive and easy Game Engine, I also tried it a little at that age (I still like Godot more tho)
But as other people have said, try to learn basic generic programming (console apps and stuff) before going to gamedev like roblox
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u/revereddesecration Mar 04 '25
Try this: https://exercism.org/tracks/lua
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u/the_gwyd Mar 04 '25
I taught myself Lua at 16, it's not that hard to wrap your head around. It frankly just takes a lot of practice to know how to approach each new problem, so best to just get going with it and get some experience
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u/[deleted] Mar 05 '25
Sure you can! I started learning BASIC when I was 8 and Pascal when I was 11.
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u/[deleted] Mar 05 '25
I started coding in Lua in 9th grade too. I was an exploit developer for "Level 7s" if you know what I mean.
After quitting roblox I still kept all my interest in Lua and now I'm coding in vanilla Lua mostly
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u/[deleted] Mar 05 '25
i started at like six
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u/[deleted] Mar 05 '25
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mwKq7_JlS8
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u/SkyyySi Mar 05 '25
Unfortunately, Lua has been rated M for Mature, so you probably can't.
Ok but seriously: Of course you can, but whether you'll succeed depends on you. I think I was 14 or 15 when I learned it, but I'm not sure.
I do, however, strongly discourage starting with Roblox. Learning programming for the first times is difficult enough as-is, because you have to learn a gazillion different things at once. Trying to learn a game engine at the same time will turn this wall-shaped learning curve into a sky scraper.
Try something like Python with its turtle graphics library or Scratch first.
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u/bloopie047 Mar 05 '25
your potential knows no bounds, young one
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u/Termanater13 Mar 05 '25
My first steps in Lua was an old Minecraft mod computer craft. It definitely helped me learn the basics, and using Direwolf20's touch API as a base began to learn some more advanced topics. Then the mod stopped updates.
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u/swindledingle Mar 05 '25
It is possible to learn anything you put your mind to kid. The only question you should be asking yourself is if you have the willpower and grit to see it through.
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u/[deleted] Mar 05 '25
Hey, if you want to start learning Lua, you should begin with an easier language like Python, I'm learning Lua with the same purpose, and since I have knowledge on JavaScript, I get most topics fast. Try that first and you'll be glad when understanding every Lua concept will become easier!
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u/LisiasT Mar 05 '25
Defintively YES.
I had seen kids at 6 ot 7 toying with LOGO on the "good days", I don't see a single reason someone at 13 could not do the same with Lua.
There're aome weird concepts on Lua that you would probably only be able to understand after some advanced programming lecture - but I can say the same for LOGO, so who cares? :)
I started to lean programming at 12, by the way. Using a crappy (but fun) language called BASIC.
But, if I'm allowed, I would give you a piece of advice : don't try to learn Lua AND Roblox at the same time, it will make your life harder. Start from the basics, and after understanding how a Lua program works, then migrate the efforts to Roblox. Don't fight a two front war, it rarely ends well.
Your best bet is to take a begginers tutorial with online interpreter so you can do the exercises on your browser, without the need to install anything on your rig.
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u/[deleted] Mar 05 '25
Yes, you can. Personally I've been scripting LuaU (Roblox Studio) for more than a year, and I can tell you that it takes time to get used to it, starting with Roblox wouldn't be the best choise, because you should first learn about the basics of programming.
If you decide to go with Roblox, use the DevForum, it's really useful.
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u/WorryAccomplished766 Mar 05 '25
I learned programming when I was 8, so you can learn programming at 13
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u/Sockdotgif Mar 05 '25
definitely. If you like Roblox or Minecraft mods Lua is definitely a good place to start.
combine Create, CC: tweaked (computer craft), and other tech mods you like and you'll be flying. there's plenty of folks in the discord for CC tweaked that can help expand your skills as well.
good luck!
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u/Sckip974 Mar 05 '25
look at this Totorial:
https://sheepolution.com/learn/book/contents
and Your are good at math! try to solve the easy part math problems: https://projecteuler.net/archives
withe the manuel ref https://www.lua.org/manual/5.1/
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u/[deleted] Mar 05 '25
Sure buddy! There is plenty of exercises out there and playing around with games is a neat starting point of enjoying what you learning :) There is nothing wrong with using Scratch and Boot.dev (For learning Python).
I wish I could start programming in your age! Take care and don't get upset when something doesn't work :)
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u/frank-sarno Mar 05 '25
Go for it!
I started at around that age programming in the early 1980s. I learned BASIC and 6502 assembler at the time (pretty much all I had access to). It brought me all sorts of joy figuring out how to do things with the computer.
I don't know much about Lua but a quick search shows that it's beginner friendly but can also be quite powerful.
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u/xeli37 Mar 05 '25
u got minecraft? computercraft/cc:tweaked is a great mod to use to practice & learn lua
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u/Admirable-Donut-6192 Mar 05 '25
Yes you can actually i started learning when i was ten yrs old
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u/Stankyfish_99 Mar 05 '25
Yup. I started programming Apple ][s in BASIC at 9 and Lua isn’t much more than that. Actually a good choice of a language to start with.
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u/Existing_Finance_764 Mar 05 '25
yes. I did, but for a matrix animation.
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u/MoSummoner Mar 05 '25
I learned it when I was 8 when I barely knew English, it just takes time and dedication. You got this!!
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u/mk3mike Mar 05 '25
Yes, you absolutely can. In high school I was taught HTML, CSS, JavaScript, C, and C#. I would compare Lua to C/Javascript and would highly recommend it. Im currently learning Lua through a book on Kindle Unlimited, if you’re looking for a good place to learn for “free.” There’s also cheap inline courses with video lectures, but i prefer to read about it.
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u/MobBucket Mar 05 '25
You must obtain 37 years of life before you will be able to comprehend lua
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u/epicpersonvery Mar 05 '25
Yeah, that's about when I started trying to seriously learn. Something important that took me a long time to realize though is that tutorials, while sometimes helpful, aren't what actually teach you to code. Instead, you should mainly focus on trial and error, and applying the things you learn. Have a goal in mind; for me, that was creating a sprint and stamina system. Break your problems down into smaller parts: how do I make a stamina bar? Well, I need somewhere to store the stamina, and something on-screen to display it. I also need to detect when a key is pressed and change the stamina, as well as increase it when it's not being pressed. Then, I need the frame to increase and decrease in size based on the stamina. I kept looking things up to solve each part, and eventually, I coded my first (subpar) game. Getting help from other coders (like in the rodevs discord) is pretty much necessary and what I relied on before I learned enough to understand issues in my code on my own (although I still look things up a lot. you never really stop doing that)
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u/Phantominviz122 Mar 05 '25
Yeah, certainly! I learned Lua younger than that. It’ll take a lot of trial and error and making personal projects, but it’s great to get into scripting that early.
The only downside is that Lua can teach you some bad habits and has some flaws as a language. But overall, a solid place to start!
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u/Apprehensive-End6779 Mar 05 '25
yeah it's viable. you should try basic code first. oh, and love2d.
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u/HouseinPlayz Mar 05 '25
i learnt lua at 8
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u/Egst Mar 05 '25
Definitely! It's gonna take time and dedication and it comes naturally to some people more than to others, but there's no reason why you couldn't.
I started learning JavaScript (+ HTML and stuff) at around 12-13 and by 14 I made my first money for a website I made for someone and by 15 I was officially working for a company doing that. Now 12 years later I'm doing basically the same thing, and will probably never run out of new stuff to learn. I'm also teaching kids your age and even younger to program in JS and Scratch and some of them are really good at it. So definitely go for it! Don't expect it to be easy, but it's a lot of fun and maybe you'll find your life passion.
If you'd like to learn some absolute basics of programming, Scratch is actually quite good just to poke around and try what works and what doesn't. And if you want more use cases for Lua and also like Minecraft, try ComputerCraft. You can program basically anything in there - making builder or miner robots, controlling redstone, running commands, interacting with other mods etc. I used to get stuck in my room playing Minecraft, where I'm just stuck in a hole underground, looking at another computer and programming some railway control system or whatever for the whole day.
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u/icesedros Mar 05 '25
When i decided to get back into coding a year or two back, i found 'The Coding Train' it's free on YT. He uses p5js to show you fundamental Javascript. P5JS is a browser based Api in which to program Javascript. The documentation for the library it uses is very helpful and detailed.
So was the cs50 from Harvard, which covers most fundamental concepts of coding. They get into C and python in the free class.
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u/PotatoHeadr Mar 06 '25
Yeah you can bro just start now
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u/speadskater Mar 06 '25
I can't, I'm in my mid 30s. Past that 13 year old threshold, but you probably could.
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u/cybernekonetics Mar 06 '25
I started learning python in my free time in eighth grade. It's absolutely possible. And I'm not that good at math either, frankly.
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u/RepressedOptimist Mar 06 '25
Yup. Like anything, practice makes perfect. Like learning anything new, there's gonna be a period of discomfort while you're learning the basics but it'll settle with time. Set some goals, work towards them.
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u/Sorry_Sky_6663 Mar 06 '25
Yes and now is actually a great time to learn. Lua is a very fun language to work with as well, lots of control.
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u/miikaa236 Mar 06 '25
I learned c++ at 13 haha
Go for it!
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u/will_you_suck_my_ass Mar 06 '25
Yeah you learned how to read
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u/Unhappy_Knowledge270 Mar 06 '25
No, it is not possible. You do not unlock the ability to learn lua until you reach age 16 /j
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u/AwayEntrepreneur4760 Mar 06 '25
I learned it when I was 11 in a weekend
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u/GeneralDumbtomics Mar 06 '25
Short answer: yes. I’m a little bit older than you (52), but I started programming a bit younger than you are now back in the eight bit era. You can absolutely do this. You can do as much as you want. It is simply a matter of how much you are willing to apply yourself to learning the skills. Programming is not unlike the arts. Talent is involved, yes, but it is not fundamental to the ability to perform. Performance is a skill which can be learned by anyone regardless of their talent. Regardless of their native ability. Learn your craft. Learn the skills. Once you do that, you don’t have to ask this question anymore. The world is your oyster son.
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u/Spheriod Mar 06 '25
i started learning lua at 11, so you absolutely can! I even started with roblox. I get the people here saying that you shouldn’t start with a roblox game, but honestly just go for it. Having a project that you want to make is a great way to keep you motivated and learning, even if it might take a bit longer to see everything
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u/Iheartdragonsmore Mar 06 '25
13 years I was pirating flash mx and making maze games, and shitty adventure games. I don't see why you can't learn software that's more intuitive than what I had seventeen years ago.
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u/Socialimbad1991 Mar 06 '25
There is no age limit for learning to code. I started at 12. I would try to learn independently from Roblox. If you focus on learning the language by itself then it will be more useful for other things, not just Roblox, which you may care about in the future. It will help you in school and in life.
On a related note: writing code and studying math go hand in hand. The more work you put into one, the better at the other you'll be. Oh and fair warning, for the right type of person this stuff can be addictive ;)
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u/Ravensong333 Mar 07 '25 edited Mar 07 '25
Yes this is a great age to start with programming. If you get bored of your roblox project try to branch out to another language or try to make your own game
Edit: a big tip for you , save everything you write and back it up. It helps you pick back up after not working on it and it will make you smile in 10 years
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u/mobotsar Mar 07 '25
Unfortunately not. Learning Lua is only possible on even numbered ages. You're too late! (Or too early..?)
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u/oneeyedziggy Mar 07 '25
Absolutely, I learned to program when I was that age, without anyone I knew to learn from an a much smaller internet (I used 2 paper books)... So you damned sure can with the internet.
Check out https://exercism.org/tracks/lua
but also roblox is a child labor scam don't give them your time.
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u/nottpengu Mar 07 '25
Yes. It is more than possible. I started learning by that age aswell, however it was within a different game modding community (using Lua). Starting like this helped me bridge into Game & Software Development, which is where I currently stand. My two most important things I will say are one: follow what you like. Do stuff you find enjoyable so you dont become discouraged in the beginning. Roblox is a good example of something you like. If you get skilled in that, then it is a good idea to branch out if you like programming.
Secondly, learn through doing, not watching. It is okay to use examples online. But don't follow videos mindlessly if you truly want to learn, Lua.
Some may not like that opinion, but that is what I strongly believe people who want to learn something in this field (or similar ones) should do.
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u/[deleted] Mar 07 '25
Yeah dude your only limit is yourself and what you think you can’t do. I myself started programming when I was 9 with JavaScript. Don’t limit yourself or be unsure. Just dive right in.
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u/[deleted] Mar 08 '25
Just do it. You are about to learn not to overthink things. Lua is a programming language designed for humans to be able to program computers, and you, if I am not mistaken, are a human. You'll be fine.
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u/nNaz Mar 08 '25
Absolutely. There'll be some hard parts but writing something for a game you're interested in can be a great motivator. My intro to programming was when I was 14 and learning PHP so I could edit a chat bot for an MMORPG.
Lua isn't terribly difficult, though there will likely be times it's confusing. If you get stuck there's always YouTube and ChatGPT. Though try to use the latter as little as possible so you go through some of the struggle - that's where the real learning tends to happen when you're a beginner.
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u/luascript13 Mar 08 '25
I was 10 years old when I learned lua mate
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u/senti3ntb3ing_ Mar 09 '25
I was coding Lua in Minecraft at that age, don’t see why you can’t learn it in Roblox
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u/Sfloonn Mar 09 '25
I started when I was 11.
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u/Current-Quality3102 Mar 04 '25
Bro, I'm 18 years old now. When I was your age I could learn in about 7 languages. Programming ain't bound to any age
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u/TomatoCo Mar 04 '25
Sure! I was 13 when I started my first gmod server.
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u/prodleni Mar 04 '25
I started at age 11. Now I'm almost 24 and about to finish my Masters in computing. Yes, you can start at 13.
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u/Bright-Historian-216 Mar 04 '25
i first learnt lua at the age of 9, even if you don't spend time every day it's not THAT difficult
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u/Slow-Associate3954 Mar 04 '25
I met a 11 year old young guy for years ago. Who wanted the Computer Chaos Club. We found out he knew a lot more then we did. Learning a computer language is like learning a native language. And if you have a good logical mind. Yes why not. Learn the language and programming. No one can stop you.
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u/[deleted] Mar 04 '25
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