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  1. Stackups
  2. Application & Data
  3. Languages
  4. Languages
  5. Groovy vs Lua

Groovy vs Lua

OverviewDecisionsComparisonAlternatives

Overview

Groovy
Groovy
Stacks7.0K
Followers780
Votes212
GitHub Stars5.4K
Forks1.9K
Lua
Lua
Stacks2.5K
Followers1.0K
Votes180
GitHub Stars1.5K
Forks452

Groovy vs Lua: What are the differences?

# Introduction

Key differences between Groovy and Lua are outlined below:

1. **Language Type**: Groovy is a dynamic language that runs on the Java Virtual Machine (JVM), while Lua is a lightweight, efficient scripting language that is used in a wide range of applications. Groovy is more object-oriented and integrates closely with Java, making it particularly suited for Java projects, while Lua is often used in game development and embedded systems.
2. **Syntax**: Groovy syntax resembles Java closely, making it familiar to Java developers with its readability and ease of adoption. On the other hand, Lua's syntax is minimalistic, simple, and easy to learn, making it a popular choice for scripting in various applications.
3. **Performance**: Groovy, being a JVM-based language, has the advantage of running on a mature and optimized platform, resulting in good performance. Lua, being lightweight and designed for efficiency, can offer high performance in certain scenarios where speed is crucial, such as in game development.
4. **Community and Ecosystem**: The Groovy community is more focused on enterprise applications and Java integration, providing a robust ecosystem with libraries and frameworks that cater to these needs. Lua, on the other hand, has a strong following in the gaming industry and embedded systems, leading to a different set of libraries and tools that cater to these specific domains.
5. **Use Cases**: Groovy is often used in enterprise applications, build automation, and testing frameworks due to its integration with Java and support for domain-specific languages. Lua, on the other hand, is commonly used in game development, scripting, and embedded systems where lightweight, fast scripting is required.
6. **Static vs. Dynamic Typing**: Groovy supports static typing via optional type annotations, allowing developers to choose between dynamic and static typing based on their needs. Lua, on the other hand, is dynamically typed, offering flexibility but potentially sacrificing some level of type safety found in statically typed languages.

In Summary, the key differences between Groovy and Lua lie in their language type, syntax, performance, community and ecosystem, use cases, and approach to typing.

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Advice on Groovy, Lua

Gamerians
Gamerians

May 21, 2020

Needs adviceonLuaLuaPythonPythonJavaJava

I am trying to make Roblox game which requires Lua. I quite don't want to go with Lua just because other tools just might let me do more projects later on. I heard that Python is most similar to Lua, but I am still not sure which tool to use. Java, I think it will help me with many stuff later on for websites, projects, and more!

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Comments

Detailed Comparison

Groovy
Groovy
Lua
Lua

It is a powerful multi-faceted programming language for the JVM platform. It supports a spectrum of programming styles incorporating features from dynamic languages such as optional and duck typing, but also static compilation and static type checking at levels similar to or greater than Java through its extensible static type checker. It aims to greatly increase developer productivity with many powerful features but also a concise, familiar and easy to learn syntax.

Lua combines simple procedural syntax with powerful data description constructs based on associative arrays and extensible semantics. Lua is dynamically typed, runs by interpreting bytecode for a register-based virtual machine, and has automatic memory management with incremental garbage collection, making it ideal for configuration, scripting, and rapid prototyping.

Flat learning curve; Powerful features; Smooth Java integration; Domain-Specific Languages; Vibrant and rich ecosystem; Scripting and testing glue
-
Statistics
GitHub Stars
5.4K
GitHub Stars
1.5K
GitHub Forks
1.9K
GitHub Forks
452
Stacks
7.0K
Stacks
2.5K
Followers
780
Followers
1.0K
Votes
212
Votes
180
Pros & Cons
Pros
  • 44
    Java platform
  • 33
    Much more productive than java
  • 29
    Concise and readable
  • 28
    Very little code needed for complex tasks
  • 22
    Dynamic language
Cons
  • 3
    Groovy Code can be slower than Java Code
  • 1
    Absurd syntax
  • 1
    Objects cause stateful/heap mess
Pros
  • 41
    Fast learning curve
  • 26
    Efficient memory usage
  • 26
    Very easy to embed in C programs
  • 20
    Open source
  • 19
    Good for game scripting
Cons
  • 4
    Nooby
  • 2
    Not widespread
  • 1
    D
  • 0
    Python
Integrations
Java
Java
No integrations available

What are some alternatives to Groovy, Lua?

JavaScript

JavaScript

JavaScript is most known as the scripting language for Web pages, but used in many non-browser environments as well such as node.js or Apache CouchDB. It is a prototype-based, multi-paradigm scripting language that is dynamic,and supports object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles.

Python

Python

Python is a general purpose programming language created by Guido Van Rossum. Python is most praised for its elegant syntax and readable code, if you are just beginning your programming career python suits you best.

PHP

PHP

Fast, flexible and pragmatic, PHP powers everything from your blog to the most popular websites in the world.

Ruby

Ruby

Ruby is a language of careful balance. Its creator, Yukihiro “Matz” Matsumoto, blended parts of his favorite languages (Perl, Smalltalk, Eiffel, Ada, and Lisp) to form a new language that balanced functional programming with imperative programming.

Java

Java

Java is a programming language and computing platform first released by Sun Microsystems in 1995. There are lots of applications and websites that will not work unless you have Java installed, and more are created every day. Java is fast, secure, and reliable. From laptops to datacenters, game consoles to scientific supercomputers, cell phones to the Internet, Java is everywhere!

Golang

Golang

Go is expressive, concise, clean, and efficient. Its concurrency mechanisms make it easy to write programs that get the most out of multicore and networked machines, while its novel type system enables flexible and modular program construction. Go compiles quickly to machine code yet has the convenience of garbage collection and the power of run-time reflection. It's a fast, statically typed, compiled language that feels like a dynamically typed, interpreted language.

HTML5

HTML5

HTML5 is a core technology markup language of the Internet used for structuring and presenting content for the World Wide Web. As of October 2014 this is the final and complete fifth revision of the HTML standard of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The previous version, HTML 4, was standardised in 1997.

C#

C#

C# (pronounced "See Sharp") is a simple, modern, object-oriented, and type-safe programming language. C# has its roots in the C family of languages and will be immediately familiar to C, C++, Java, and JavaScript programmers.

Scala

Scala

Scala is an acronym for “Scalable Language”. This means that Scala grows with you. You can play with it by typing one-line expressions and observing the results. But you can also rely on it for large mission critical systems, as many companies, including Twitter, LinkedIn, or Intel do. To some, Scala feels like a scripting language. Its syntax is concise and low ceremony; its types get out of the way because the compiler can infer them.

Elixir

Elixir

Elixir leverages the Erlang VM, known for running low-latency, distributed and fault-tolerant systems, while also being successfully used in web development and the embedded software domain.

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