How does one learn the Lua language?
Is there an online course we can enroll in?
Do you have to go to uni?
[import]uid: 30601 topic_id: 20256 reply_id: 320256[/import]
for me i just search tutorials and look around the forums [import]uid: 31078 topic_id: 20256 reply_id: 79127[/import]
I haven’t come across a course and I know here the unis I’ve looked at do not offer it. (Although some might, I’ve only looked at a couple.)
Are you starting from nothing or do you have a little experience with Corona already?
Peach 
[import]uid: 52491 topic_id: 20256 reply_id: 79131[/import]
Just playing with the codes in the hello world tutorials and looking around the forum.
Is this what everyone does? Is there no diploma course in lua people can learn from scratch ?
I realise a most people have experience in other programing languages and can pick lua up very fast but as a new comer without experience I’d like to learn from scratch so I don’t miss anything.
Surely someone must have learnt the Lua code from somewhere?
With some many countries having access to the net, I think there would be a great demand for a diploma course?
[import]uid: 30601 topic_id: 20256 reply_id: 79135[/import]
im learning for a half-year just by myself
basically its all tuts from learningcorona.com + lua manuals at
www.lua.org/pil/ and http://lua-users.org/wiki/
and will to learn [import]uid: 16142 topic_id: 20256 reply_id: 79148[/import]
Hey Paul,
I actually started out with no coding experience of any kind not that long ago myself. (A little over a year.)
I pieced things together using the sample code Ansca provides, although admittedly when you have zero experience it can be a bit much at first.
I’ve got a mini series on Techority called “Corona For Newbies”, which has 4 parts and has been very well received - it is definitely worth checking out as it assumes no prior knowledge.
You can find it on Techority or on http://learningcorona.com/ (That has a list of all the Corona tutorials available online, my mini series is listed first.)
Peach
PS - Alexey’s suggestion is also a good one [import]uid: 52491 topic_id: 20256 reply_id: 79192[/import]
The best resource for learning Lua (other than the reference manual) from scratch is the “Programming In Lua” or PIL book that darkconsoles linked :
@ www.lua.org/pil/
If you have 20 or so bucks to spare I would seriously consider buying Edition 2 which you can get in .pdf format (more readable for me) and deals with Lua 5.1 rather than 5 (The difference between the two is not too dramatic though)
Since you have never programmed before I would discourage you from trying to learn lua directly from that book. If you don’t know what an “if statement” is or how “loops and functions” are used - you are probably (individuals vary) not ready to learn from there. Lua is a fairly simple language but documentation targeting non-programmers is scarce. If you want to take my humble advice I would learn the basics of programming in a language like python. Both me, my brother and a friend of mine (it sort of a tradition - we were all pre-pubescent at the time) first learned to program in python using a book by Josh Cogliati called “python for non-programmers”. You can find it here:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/Non-Programmer's_Tutorial_for_Python_2.6.pdf
It deals with pretty basic stuff but it prepares you for the basic concepts so you don’t look at me funny when I say boolean expressions and arrays (or tables). It will either take you a weekend or a few weeks to finish the book depending on the hours you put in. The most important thing is to just keep making little projects to test your knowledge as you progress.
If you can build a simple text-based paper-scissors-rock program with a high scores list saved externally than you will probably have a vague idea about what programming is all about.
At that point I would get onto the Corona tutorials or the “programming in lua” book depending on how patient you are.
-learningcorona.com is great (make sure to scroll down and look around as well ! )
-Cheeto moskeeto (youtube channel) has some decent videos.
-techority has some good intro tutorials
If you are willing to buy a book “Beginning mobile app development with corona” which you can get at Burton’s Media group is a pretty good, comprehensive way to get into corona.
Just my long-winded-two-cents.
Good Luck!
[import]uid: 95979 topic_id: 20256 reply_id: 83356[/import]
this is where I started
http://lua.gts-stolberg.de/en/index.php?uml=1 [import]uid: 7911 topic_id: 20256 reply_id: 83376[/import]
Ok, thanks guys…
Gotta start somewhere I suppose… [import]uid: 30601 topic_id: 20256 reply_id: 83510[/import]
and if you need some help, feel free to ask on this awesome forums) [import]uid: 16142 topic_id: 20256 reply_id: 83519[/import]
The course that I teach at Otis College of Art and Design is currently being turned into an online course. More details to come soon. [import]uid: 10903 topic_id: 20256 reply_id: 98691[/import]
Great news…
Thanks [import]uid: 30601 topic_id: 20256 reply_id: 98726[/import]
Here’s an article about my courses, including info about the online course:
http://blog.anscamobile.com/2012/05/guest-post-corona-courses-at-otis-college-of-art-and-design/ [import]uid: 10903 topic_id: 20256 reply_id: 109321[/import]
I am some how suddenly motivated to write a series of blog posts on programming 101…
[import]uid: 19626 topic_id: 20256 reply_id: 109365[/import]
Brainbloopers, thanks for those book links. I think they might help me also… but you raise an interesting point… You’ve suggested learning the basics of Python first, then hopping over to something like Burton’s Corona book. I’m wondering if learning the basics of another language would confuse a newbie with the differences in syntax etc.
I did a bit of poking around for programming 101 online courses and there are a few options in different languages, Python, C++, C#, Perl, BASIC. Would one language be better suited to this role than another? [import]uid: 158138 topic_id: 20256 reply_id: 114001[/import]
Javascript is similar and very useful [import]uid: 10903 topic_id: 20256 reply_id: 114002[/import]
I think it really depends on how fast a learner you are, the amount of hours per day you can spend learning and your aims. I would like to doubly recommend Burton’s book having just taught a friend to create apps through it I can say with confidence that is thoroughly sweet. As for learning python first, the idea behind it is to give you an introduction into the world of computer science and the ideas involved e.g. function, if statements, tables/arrays, variables , loops, modular code etc… I think python is one of the best languages for non-programmers to dive into, again I learnt python when I was in elementary school and I wasn’t a very bright kid. C++ & C# are languages are two languages which most programmers would be familiar with but I do not recommend them at all if you are just getting started, the same goes for Perl and BASIC. As for the confusion of learning a different syntax in my experience learning the syntax of a new language is by far the easiest part ! and don’t worry about confusing syntax most programmers know 2 or three languages and it’s a non-problem.
My advice : Go through any course which takes you through the basics of programming (by the end of it you should be familiar with the idea of if statements, functions, arguments, variables , tables/arrays etc. ) e.g. the Josh Cogliati book I mentioned above or any other resource of your choice (Udacity have a really cool introduction to computer science course though a lot of the stuff covered isn’t necessary) it should be in an easy language like python or lua (but there aren’t too many comprehensive ones out there for lua). Once your done with that you can dive right into learning to use the Corona SDK using the various resources we have mentioned here (including burtons book )
Some people with no background in programming can dive straight into tutorials ( such as the techority ones) but if you can’t code say a text based paper-scissors-rock game then you might struggle once you get to the more in-depth parts of coding.
The most important piece of advice I can give you is just to get started, just like learning a spoken language programming the best way to learn/become fluent is just to practice it( I mean LOTS of practice)
Just my two cents, this is based on my experience and there are hundreds of different ways to go about learning to code.
Best of luck. [import]uid: 95979 topic_id: 20256 reply_id: 114023[/import]
Yeah, awesome, thanks for clearing that up. Ima give that Python book a go, sounds like it’s what I’m after. I actually bought the Burton book, and the Fernandez one, but I’ve gotten stuck in both, so your suggestion is making me feel a bit more confident. [import]uid: 158138 topic_id: 20256 reply_id: 114148[/import]
This is the same problem I am facing when it comes to learning to program with Lua. The link that jstrahan posted is a good place that gently introduces you to it, but as with many programming courses online they aren’t able to accommodate the various learning styles people have.
There is a book called “Foundation Game Design with Flash” written by a man named Rex van der Spuy that nailed it for me, being written expressly for purely creative types. It is my hope that someone, perhaps even Rex himself, will take up the cause and write a book that does for Lua what “Foundation Game Design with Flash” did for ActionScript. If so, then there’ll be some great times ahead.
For now though, learning the hard way can only strengthen your mental acuity for programming in Lua, even if you just do what Peach did when first starting out by using the sample code provided by Ansca here on the site. Don’t give up. Small steps will get you there. [import]uid: 153366 topic_id: 20256 reply_id: 118710[/import]
As Crssmn noted, Javascript is similar to Lua.
When I decided to learn Lua I actually just decided to learn Javascript first, because there are far more resources out there for learning it. I spent a full week just going through the free courses over at Code Academy. I really enjoyed that experience because CA does a great job of walking you through all the core concepts of programming in a very user-friendly way. You get immediate feedback on your code because you have to pass a challenge before moving on to the next lesson, which is something that you don’t get with books and videos. You also get casually introduced to refactoring. They’ll have you write code one way and then, in the next lesson, they’ll introduce a new concept to you and have you rewrite the code using that new concept. Very helpful.
I know it sounds strange to learn a completely different language just to learn the one you REALLY want, but in reality it makes a lot of sense. After that week of CA training I picked up Lua in a few days. I’m still a beginner, but everything makes a lot more sense now that I understand the concepts. The rest is mostly just learning syntax.
Good luck with whichever option you choose.
- Mike
P.S. The specific course I took at CA was Javascript Fundamentals. [import]uid: 14700 topic_id: 20256 reply_id: 118728[/import]