This chapter covers what Lua is and how to set up a Lua environment on any operating system. Lua is not tied to any operating system, so this chapter covers installing Lua for Windows, macOS, and Linux. By the end of this chapter, you will have a fully functional Lua development environment set up, regardless of what operating system you are using. This will leave you ready to start learning the Lua language.

This is what you will learn in this chapter:

• What Lua is
• How to install Lua
• Available Lua tools
• How to install Visual Studio Code
• How to use Visual Studio Code
• Write and run a Hello World Lua application