Lua vs WebAssembly

Overview

Lua

Stacks2.5K

Followers1.0K

Votes180

GitHub Stars1.5K

Forks452

WebAssembly

Stacks223

Followers218

Votes0

GitHub Stars8.2K

Forks818

Lua vs WebAssembly: What are the differences?

Syntax: One key difference between Lua and WebAssembly is their syntax. Lua uses a simple and lightweight syntax that is designed to be easily readable and writable by developers. On the other hand, WebAssembly uses a low-level, stack-based language that is more focused on efficiency and performance than readability.
Execution Environment: Another difference is the execution environment. Lua is typically used as a high-level scripting language, often embedded within applications or game engines. WebAssembly, on the other hand, is designed to be run in web browsers and provides a way to run performance-critical code written in languages like C++ or Rust.
Binary Format: WebAssembly is compiled into a compact binary format, making it more efficient for transmission over the web. In contrast, Lua is typically distributed as source code and needs to be interpreted by the Lua runtime environment.
Portability: WebAssembly is designed to be highly portable and can run on any platform that supports its virtual machine. This makes it a great choice for cross-platform development. Lua, while also portable, may require some modification or recompilation for different platforms.
Type System: WebAssembly has a strict, static type system that ensures type safety and allows for efficient memory management. Lua, on the other hand, is dynamically typed and has a more flexible approach to variables and data types, which can lead to more errors at runtime if not managed carefully.
Performance: WebAssembly is known for its high performance due to its close-to-the-metal nature and efficient compilation. Lua, being a higher-level language, may not always match the performance of WebAssembly in compute-intensive applications.

In Summary, Lua and WebAssembly differ in syntax, execution environment, binary format, portability, type system, and performance, making them suitable for different types of applications and development scenarios.

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Advice on Lua, WebAssembly

Gamerians

May 21, 2020

Needs adviceon

Lua

Python

Java

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

Lua	WebAssembly
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.	It is an open standard that defines a portable binary code format for executable programs, and a corresponding textual assembly language, as well as interfaces for facilitating interactions between such programs and their host environment.
-	Efficient and fast; Safe; Open and debuggable; Part of the open web platform
Statistics
GitHub Stars 1.5K	GitHub Stars 8.2K
GitHub Forks 452	GitHub Forks 818
Stacks 2.5K	Stacks 223
Followers 1.0K	Followers 218
Votes 180	Votes 0
Pros & Cons
Pros 41 Fast learning curve 26 Very easy to embed in C programs 26 Efficient memory usage 20 Open source 19 Good for game scripting Cons 4 Nooby 2 Not widespread 1 D 0 Python	Cons 2 Security issues
Integrations
No integrations available	Rust C++ C lang

What are some alternatives to Lua, WebAssembly?

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 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

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

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 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

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 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# (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 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 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.

Related Comparisons

Lua vs WebAssembly: What are the differences?

Syntax: One key difference between Lua and WebAssembly is their syntax. Lua uses a simple and lightweight syntax that is designed to be easily readable and writable by developers. On the other hand, WebAssembly uses a low-level, stack-based language that is more focused on efficiency and performance than readability.
Execution Environment: Another difference is the execution environment. Lua is typically used as a high-level scripting language, often embedded within applications or game engines. WebAssembly, on the other hand, is designed to be run in web browsers and provides a way to run performance-critical code written in languages like C++ or Rust.
Binary Format: WebAssembly is compiled into a compact binary format, making it more efficient for transmission over the web. In contrast, Lua is typically distributed as source code and needs to be interpreted by the Lua runtime environment.
Portability: WebAssembly is designed to be highly portable and can run on any platform that supports its virtual machine. This makes it a great choice for cross-platform development. Lua, while also portable, may require some modification or recompilation for different platforms.
Type System: WebAssembly has a strict, static type system that ensures type safety and allows for efficient memory management. Lua, on the other hand, is dynamically typed and has a more flexible approach to variables and data types, which can lead to more errors at runtime if not managed carefully.
Performance: WebAssembly is known for its high performance due to its close-to-the-metal nature and efficient compilation. Lua, being a higher-level language, may not always match the performance of WebAssembly in compute-intensive applications.

Lua vs WebAssembly

Overview