Lua, a lightweight and versatile scripting language, offers a concise set of data types. Understanding these types is crucial for effective Lua programming.

Basic Data Types

Lua provides eight basic data types:

nil: Represents the absence of a value
boolean: Either true or false
number: Represents both integer and floating-point numbers
string: Sequence of characters
function: First-class values in Lua
userdata: Allows arbitrary C data to be stored in Lua variables
thread: Represents independent threads of execution
table: Lua's sole data structuring mechanism

Numbers

Lua uses double-precision floating-point format for numbers. It doesn't distinguish between integers and floats.

local integer = 42
local float = 3.14
local scientific = 1.2e-3

Strings

Strings in Lua are immutable sequences of bytes. They can be delimited by single or double quotes.

local single_quoted = 'Hello'
local double_quoted = "World"
local multi_line = [[
    This is a
    multi-line string
]]

Booleans

Boolean values in Lua are true and false. Note that nil is considered false in boolean contexts.

local is_active = true
local has_error = false

Tables

Tables are the only data structuring mechanism in Lua. They can be used to represent arrays, dictionaries, objects, and more.

local array = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}
local dictionary = {name = "John", age = 30}
local mixed = {1, "two", {3}, four = 4}

For more advanced usage of tables, refer to Lua Table Basics.

Functions

Functions in Lua are first-class values, meaning they can be assigned to variables, passed as arguments, and returned from other functions.

local function greet(name)
    return "Hello, " .. name
end

local result = greet("Lua")

To dive deeper into functions, check out Lua Function Basics.

Type Checking

Lua provides the type() function to determine the type of a value:

print(type("Hello"))  -- Output: string
print(type(42))      -- Output: number
print(type({}))      -- Output: table
print(type(true))    -- Output: boolean
print(type(nil))     -- Output: nil

Best Practices

Use appropriate data types for your variables to ensure efficient memory usage.
Leverage tables for complex data structures and organization.
Be aware of type coercion when performing operations between different types.
Use the type() function for runtime type checking when necessary.

Understanding Lua's data types is fundamental to writing efficient and error-free code. As you progress, you'll find that Lua's flexible type system allows for powerful and expressive programming paradigms.

For more information on working with different data types, explore Lua Type Conversion and Lua String Manipulation.