I've been using Lua in a project for quite some time, replacing Python as my embedded scripting language of choice.
It never ceases to amaze me, as a language and as an interpreter. Sure, the syntax bites you occasionally, and sure, the lack of built-in functionality is occasionally annoying. But hey, I can add callbacks into a simulation engine that execute 10 million times per second with almost no slowdown in the result. Like the article mentions, the string matching library isn't as powerful as Perl's, but it's more than adequate for all of my uses.
My only wish is for an updated LNUM patch that works with Lua 5.2. I deal with integers too much in my projects for its absence to not be annoying.
Roberto did a keynote at the Lua workshop '12, where he detailled what keeps the Lua team busy. A video of it exists somewhere on the web. Half of it was about how to integrate IEEE doubles and 64 bits ints soundly in the language. There are some challenges left, but they're really trying to overcome them.
It never ceases to amaze me, as a language and as an interpreter. Sure, the syntax bites you occasionally, and sure, the lack of built-in functionality is occasionally annoying. But hey, I can add callbacks into a simulation engine that execute 10 million times per second with almost no slowdown in the result. Like the article mentions, the string matching library isn't as powerful as Perl's, but it's more than adequate for all of my uses.
My only wish is for an updated LNUM patch that works with Lua 5.2. I deal with integers too much in my projects for its absence to not be annoying.