Lua is one of those languages that people just overlook. It seems basic because of its use for scripting in World of Warcraft, Minecraft Robots, NeoVim, and Roblox. But that is the beauty of the language. It is a wonderfully simple language that, in the right hands, is extremely powerful.
In this love letter to Lua, Matt Blewit explores why Lua is a language we should stop passing over. I was one of the people who overlooked Lua; I saw it as a simple language that was just embedded in some random games and programs. Matt, however, explains that this is truly what makes Lua so special. It is lightweight, easy to learn, and dead simple (it only has eight types!), making it the perfect language for someone to pick up over the weekend and script their favorite applications.
I like how Matt walks through the capabilities of Lua in a very linear and comprehensible manner. It emphasizes just how capable Lua is. At the end of each paragraph, you sit there thinking “woah 🤯.” But then you keep reading, and the next paragraph introduces something even better. All I can say after reading this article is that I will be checking out Lua the next chance that I get!
Have you ever been in a hotel and wondered 🤔💭 "what is going on with the network traffic around here?” Well, Gokberk thought that when they were staying at a hotel for a bit.
This post is a tale about how Gokberk found and researched a mysterious Multicast UDP Stream that was being sent throughout their hotel. Could it be a recording device sending back information? An odd remnant from all of the Smart Applications? Or something no one would ever expect?
What I enjoy about the post is that it reads like an adventure. As you read, you travel with the writer through their thought process. Seeing the individual steps needed to research and reverse engineer the random data stream being broadcasted is a fun experience. It's not every day that you get to explore a mysterious UDP stream, and Gokberk certainly makes his exploration an exciting trip with an ending you will never expect.