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Reference manual

The official definition of the Lua language is its reference manual, which describes the syntax and the semantics of Lua, the standard libraries, and the C API.

The reference manuals for all versions of Lua are available online in English. Some are available in other languages and as a printed book.

The current version is the reference manual for Lua 5.5.

For more technical information, see the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) and some old seminar slides. For detailed technical information on specific topics, see our old series of Lua Technical Notes and the wiki at lua-users.org, specially the tutorial. You may also browse the source code. For a tutorial on embedding Lua, see The Lua Integration Guide by Marc Balmer.

Papers

There are many papers and theses related to Lua. Here are the main ones written by the Lua team. See also the LabLua publications.

The main academic paper about Lua discusses the philosophy behind its design:

Lua – an extensible extension language by R. Ierusalimschy, L. H. de Figueiredo, W. Celes,
Software: Practice & Experience 26 #6 (1996) 635–652. [doi]
This paper was awarded the first prize (technological category) in the II Compaq Award for Research and Development in Computer Science in 1997. This award was a joint venture of Compaq Computer in Brazil, the Brazilian Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Brazilian Academy of Sciences.

For an overview of how Lua is designed, see

A look at the design of Lua by R. Ierusalimschy, L. H. de Figueiredo, W. Celes,
Communications of the ACM 61 #11 (2018) 114–123. [doi · video]

For a short exposition of the API design, see

Passing a language through the eye of a needle by R. Ierusalimschy, L. H. de Figueiredo, W. Celes,
ACM Queue 9 #5 (May 2011) 20–29. [doi · acm]
Communications of the ACM 54 #7 (July 2011) 38–43. [doi · acm]

It is also available in Portuguese:

Passando uma linguagem pelo buraco de uma agulha por R. Ierusalimschy, L. H. de Figueiredo, W. Celes,
ACM Queue 9 #5 (May 2011) 20–29.

For details on the implementation of Lua, see

The implementation of Lua 5.0 by R. Ierusalimschy, L. H. de Figueiredo, W. Celes,
Journal of Universal Computer Science 11 #7 (2005) 1159–1176. [doi · slides]

For details on the role of first-class functions in Lua, see

First-class functions in an imperative world by R. Ierusalimschy,
Journal of Universal Computer Science 23 #1 (2017) 112–126. [doi · slides]

For a discussion of coroutines in Lua, see

Coroutines in Lua by A. L. de Moura, N. Rodriguez, R. Ierusalimschy,
Journal of Universal Computer Science 10 #7 (2004) 910–925. [doi · slides]

For a complete history of Lua, see

The evolution of Lua by R. Ierusalimschy, L. H. de Figueiredo, W. Celes,
Proceedings of ACM HOPL III (2007) 2-1–2-26. [doi · slides]

and its continuation

The evolution of Lua, continued by R. Ierusalimschy, L. H. de Figueiredo, W. Celes,
Journal of Computer Languages 83 (2025) 101326. [doi]

For a history of Lua until 2001, see

The evolution of an extension language: a history of Lua by R. Ierusalimschy, L. H. de Figueiredo, W. Celes,
Proceedings of V Brazilian Symposium on Programming Languages (2001) B-14–B-28. [ps]

The first paper describing Lua has some historical interest:

The design and implementation of a language for extending applications by L. H. de Figueiredo, R. Ierusalimschy, W. Celes,
Proceedings of XXI Brazilian Seminar on Software and Hardware (1994) 273–283. [ps]

For an early expository article, see

Lua: an extensible embedded language by L. H. de Figueiredo, R. Ierusalimschy, W. Celes,
Dr. Dobb's Journal 21 #12 (Dec 1996) 26–33. [ddj]

For introductory texts in Portuguese, see

Uma introdu��o � programa��o em Lua by R. Ierusalimschy, JAI 2009 (Jul 2009).
A linguagem Lua e suas aplica��es em jogos by W. Celes, L. H. Figueiredo, R. Ierusalimschy
WJogos 2004 (Oct 2004). [slides]

See also an interview about Lua in the book Masterminds of Programming (2009).

Books

Lua books are available at the main online stores and also as e-books at Feisty Duck. When you buy a copy of a book published by Lua.org, you help to support the Lua project.

Reference manual

The official definition of the Lua language:

Lua 5.1 Reference Manual by R. Ierusalimschy, L. H. de Figueiredo, W. Celes,
Lua.org, August 2006
ISBN 8590379833

The reference manuals for later versions of Lua are available online.

Programming in Lua

A detailed and authoritative introduction to all aspects of Lua programming, by Lua's chief architect:

Programming in Lua by R. Ierusalimschy
Lua.org, fourth edition, August 2016
ISBN 8590379868
(also available as an e-book)

The fourth edition is aimed at Lua 5.3 and marks a complete reorganization of the text. The first edition is available online. It was aimed at Lua 5.0 and is still largely relevant.

The third edition was aimed at Lua 5.2 and remains quite relevant. It is available in English, Portuguese, and Russian:

Programming in Lua by Roberto Ierusalimschy
Lua.org, third edition, January 2013
ISBN 859037985X
(also available as e-book)

Programando em Lua por Roberto Ierusalimschy
LTC, January 2015
ISBN 9788521626992

Programmirovanie na iazyke Lua by Roberto Ierusalimschy
DMK-press, 2014
ISBN 5940747671

The second edition remains relevant and is available in German, Korean, Chinese, and Japanese:

Programmieren mit Lua von Roberto Ierusalimschy
Open Source Press, September 2006
ISBN 3937514228

Programming in Lua by Roberto Ierusalimschy
Insight, June 2007
ISBN 9788991268302

Programming in Lua by Roberto Ierusalimschy
Publishing House of Electronic Industry, May 2008
ISBN 9787121061875

Programming in Lua by Roberto Ierusalimschy
ASCII Media Works, Aug 2009
ISBN 9784048677974

Lua Programming Gems

A collection of articles recording some of the existing wisdom and practice on how to program well in Lua:

Lua Programming Gems edited by L. H. de Figueiredo, W. Celes, R. Ierusalimschy, Lua.org, December 2008
ISBN 9788590379843
(also available as e-book)

Other books

There are also books about Lua written by other authors:

Let's code Lua! by Maxime Wegesin. Rheinwerk Computing, 2024, ISBN 9783367104161.
Roblox Coding for kids by Robert McConnell. Independently published, 2024, ISBN 9798878577274.
Automate your Workflow with Lua by Johnny Boutte. Independently published, 2024, ISBN 9798884809840.
High-Performance Lua for Roblox Developers by Harvey Mills. Independently published, 2024, ISBN 9798884704107.
Lua in 8 Hours by Lewis Austin and Ray Yao. Independently published, 2024, ISBN 9798327626874.
Lua Essentials: A Journey Through Code and Creativity by Frahaan Hussain, Kameron Hussain. Independently published, 2023, ISBN 9798871440179.
Code Gamers Development: Lua Essentials by A.E. Colonna. Independently published, 2023, ISBN 9798395932808.
Roblox Lua Scripting Essentials by Christopher Coutinho. Apress, 2023, ISBN 9798868800252.
Scripting Farming Simulator with Lua by Zander Brumbaugh and Manuel Leithner. Apress, 2023, ISBN 9798868800597.
Learning Lua: A guide for getting started by Brian Burton. Independently published, 2023, ISBN 9798857767290.
Integrate Lua with C++ by Wenhuan Li. Packt Publishing, 2023, ISBN 9781805128618.
Mastering Roblox Coding by Mark Kiepe. Packt Publishing, 2022, ISBN 9781801814041.
Coding With Roblox Lua in 24 Hours: The Official Roblox Guide by Roblox Corporation. Sams Publishing, 2021, ISBN 9780136829423.
Coding Roblox Games Made Easy: The ultimate guide to creating games with Roblox Studio and Lua programming by Zander Brumbaugh. Packt Publishing, 2021, ISBN 9781800561991.
Initiation � la cr�ation de jeux vid�o en Lua avec L�ve2D by Anthony Cardinale. �ditions D-BookeR, 2020, ISBN 9782822709675.
Lua Quick Reference (second edition) by Mitchell. Triple Quasar Books, 2020, ISBN 9780991237951.
Developing Games on the Raspberry Pi: App Programming with Lua and L�VE by Seth Kenlon. Apress, 2019, ISBN 9781484241707.
Lua Programming using Roblox by SimTek Game Development. Independently published, 2019, ISBN 9781693427443.
Introdu��o � linguagem Lua by Jos� Augusto N. G. Manzano. Novatec, 2018, ISBN 9788575226681.
Lua Quick Start Guide by Gabor Szauer, Packt Publishing, 2018, ISBN 9781789343229.
Creating Solid APIs with Lua by Tyler Neylon. O'Reilly Media, 2017, ISBN 9781491986301.
Le guide de Lua et ses applications - Manuel d'apprentissage (2e �dition) by Pierre Chapuis, Etiene Dalcol, Cyril Doillon, Sylvain Fabre, Philippe Lhoste, Hisham Muhammad, and Patrick Rapin. �ditions D-BookeR, 2016, ISBN 9782822704076.
Le guide de Lua et ses applications - Manuel de r�f�rence (2e �dition) by Pierre Chapuis, Cyril Doillon, Sylvain Fabre, Philippe Lhoste, and Patrick Rapin. �ditions D-BookeR, 2016, ISBN 9782822704083.
Lua Game Development Cookbook by Mario Kasuba. Packt Publishing, 2015, ISBN 1849515506.
ROBLOX Lua: Scripting for Beginners by Douglas Snipp. CreateSpace, 2015, ISBN 1508728313.
Seven More Languages in Seven Weeks: Languages That Are Shaping the Future by Bruce Tate, Ian Dees, Frederic Daoud, Jack Moffitt. Pragmatic Bookshelf, 2014, ISBN 1941222153.
Learning Game AI Programming with Lua by David Young. Packt Publishing, 2014, ISBN 1783281332.
Lua Programming by Mark Otaris and others, Wikibooks, 2014.
Introduction to Programming with Lua and the Corona Game Lab by Robert Cook. Cook's Books, 2014. ASIN B00IQGAC8A.
Create Mobile Games with Corona: Build with Lua on iOS and Android by Silvia Domenech. Pragmatic Bookshelf, 2013, ISBN 1937785572.
CryENGINE Game Programming with C++, C#, and Lua by Filip Lundgren and Ruan Pearce. Packt Publishing, 2013, ISBN 1849695903.
L�VE for Lua Game Programming by Darmie Akinlaja. Packt Publishing, 2013, ISBN 1782161600.
ComputerCraft: Lua Programming in Minecraft by Matthew Monk and Simon Monk. CreateSpace, 2013, ISBN 1481927655.
Learn Lua for iOS Game Development by Jayant Varma. Apress, 2012, ISBN 1430246626.
Le guide de Lua et ses applications by Cyril Doillon, Sylvain Fabre, Philippe Lhoste, and Patrick Rapin. �ditions D-BookeR, 2012, ISBN 9782822700054.
Lua - Programa��o de Computadores by Jos� Augusto N. G. Manzano. self-published, 2012, ISBN 9788591311576.
Lua: Einsatz von Lua in Embedded Systems by Claus K�hnel and Daniel Zwirner. Skript Verlag Kuehnel, 2012, ISBN 3907857151.
Basic ROBLOX Lua Programming by Brandon John LaRouche. CreateSpace, 2012, ISBN 1475026048.
Numerical Methods for Nonlinear Engineering Models by John R. Hauser. Springer, 2009, ISBN 9781402099199.
Lua: Einsatz von Lua zur Messwerterfassung by Claus K�hnel and Daniel Zwirner. Skript Verlag Kuehnel, 2009, ISBN 3907857127.
Beginning Lua with World of Warcraft Add-ons by Paul Emmerich. Apress, 2009, ISBN 1430223715.
First Lua Programming, the most popular application development lightweight script! by Miki Shimizu. Softbank Creative, 2008, ISBN 4777514137.
Scripting Language for Game Development and Efficient C/C++ to Implement Embedded Lua by Makoto Hamanaka. Softbank Creative, 2008, ISBN 4797348550.
World of Warcraft Programming by James Whitehead II, Bryan McLemore, and Matthew Orlando. Wiley, 2008, ISBN 0470229810.
Introduction to Lua programming by Yutaka Ueno. Softbank Creative, 2007, ISBN 4797342722.
Beginning Lua Programming by Kurt Jung and Aaron Brown. Wrox, 2007, ISBN 0470069171.
Programming Game AI by Example by Mat Buckland. Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2005, ISBN 9781556220784.
Game Development with Lua by Paul Schuytema and Mark Manyen. Charles River Media, 2005, ISBN 1584504048.
Game Programming with Python, Lua, and Ruby by Tom Gutschmidt. Course Technology PTR, 2003, ISBN 1592000770.