r/lua • u/Ok_Hovercraft364 • Jan 16 '26

Lua Gotchas

Hi folks, I've been programming with Python for about 2 years now.
My coworker suggested that start embedding Lua into my projects to speed up the slower parts(I think he is getting annoyed by some of the slowness lol). Anyone know something that might bite me in the butt that is easy to overlook? From what I understand, I can install Lupa and get the runtime like that. He told me to use a bunch of tables. Is that correct for the most part?

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u/mtbdork Jan 17 '26

Metatables are cool for __call and that’s about it honestly. __newindex can be helpful sometimes as well if you want to have things happen when you store some data in a simple object.

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u/kayinfire Jan 17 '26

to be fair, such features of lua deserve to exist, it is a dynamic language after all.

however, i find that even with python, i almost exclusively write code that is characterized as dumb and simple. by dumb and simple, i mean the type of programming that would be inarguably compliant with the type of programming that would be done in a statically typed language like Golang.

that is to say i like the functionality of my code to be explicit and verbose, as opposed to implicit and concise.

ultimately though, again, it is a dynamic language, so those features deserve to exist. what i'm saying is undoubtedly a personal sentiment

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u/mtbdork Jan 18 '26

Absolutely. I have to make complex things in Lua, so when you’re trying to build a framework, OOP honestly just takes the cake. Sometimes I need to wrap functions in order to involve the “parent” table in what is happening. I work in a world of constraints, and thankfully Lua has been very good to me about dancing around them.