Comments are an essential part of writing clean, maintainable Lua code. They allow programmers to add explanations, notes, or temporarily disable code without affecting the program's execution.
In Lua, single-line comments start with two dashes (--) and continue until the end of the line. They're perfect for brief explanations or quick notes.
-- This is a single-line comment
print("Hello, World!") -- This comment is at the end of a line of code
For longer explanations or commenting out multiple lines of code, Lua provides multi-line comments. These start with --[[ and end with ]].
--[[
This is a multi-line comment.
It can span several lines.
Very useful for longer explanations.
]]
print("This code will be executed")
Comments don't affect the performance of your Lua program. The Lua interpreter ignores them during execution. However, they do increase the file size slightly, which might be a consideration in memory-constrained environments.
Understanding comments is crucial when diving into more complex Lua topics. As you progress, you might want to explore:
Remember, good commenting practices contribute to code readability and maintainability, making it easier for you and others to understand and modify the code in the future.