How to learn lua (0 experience)

So I always wanted to script but I have no idea where to start
any recommendations of where to start/what i should do?

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The basics syntax are also good to learn and start.

After that you need a goal, what do you want to do?

Like make a car?

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Youtube tutorials are your best friend. Start by watching a tutorial that explains the VERY VERY BASICS of roblox scripting.

Youtube has everything you need to know just look up whatever you want. I recommend youtubers like gnomeCode and devking for beginner scripting.

Eventually you’ll have enough knowledge of scripting to do it on your own. Then you can script and follow the documentation. This tutorial is good for what i mean: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bsGUwKdKzQ

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I ineed have a goal
I always wanted to make a working flat ride like theme parks that is operatable via buttons
And thanks for telling me that!

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Thank you, i’ll look into that!

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That is quite complicated because you’d have to use a combination of lerping and raycasting so you will do this later on in your learning experiences

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Sounds interesting, then the learning plan I made would look something like this

  1. Scripting syntax (for loops), you can even learn from python the concepts are similar.
  2. How scripting works with Roblox studio objects properties (Also ties into a bit with object oriented programming ex what is an pbject? Ex: a part). There are many tutorials Ill recommend the one I learnt is peasfactory.
  3. Roblox Constraints no scripting knowledge required to build a rotating hinge like a carousel. The scripting will be done by controlling the constraint object properties.

Hope this helps

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I wrote a tutorial for beginners. It should be a nice way to start.

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Luau is a language based off of Lua, and it uses the Roblox Studio Engine.

I honestly think that looking at the documentation and following Luau’s and Roblox’s “Getting Started” areas, will help you get started.
https://luau-lang.org/ – This is luau’s official website, and will help you learn the basics of Luau and even some advanced methods.

Documentation - Roblox Creator Hub – Then you have roblox’s official Documentation, this will teach you EVERYTHING about Luau, but make sure to actually practice with it in studio, but roblox’s documentation also goes over other things such as Open Cloud, Grown and Monetization, studio basics, and so much more!

Youtube tutorials are kinda mid, as they instructor usually has their own way of scripting in Luau that might not be good practice for beginners.

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3 good ways:

  1. Tutorials; but not crappy tutorials that only show you how to do it. Use the kinds of tutorials that teach you what the code MEANS.
  2. Read other people’s code. Best way, and it’s how I learned a lot of my programming. Reading from other people’s code is a great way to learn new methods, add different functionality, and much more.
  3. DevForum is your best friend. You search up a question and 4/5 of the time, it’ll be there. Just make sure to look before you post so you don’t make a post for an already answered question
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I personally started learning the basics with Youtube tutorials, then i got confused and bought an official roblox programming book:

It teached me various important topics like OOP, more stuff about tables (table.sort() and how to use it while dealing with arrays), for loops, and other stuff! That may seem confusing at 1st, but trust me, it isn’t that hard!

The book costs around 25 bucks on amazon, there are 24 chapters (or hours as they call them) and at the end of every chapter theres an exercise to test your skills.

If you don’t wanna pay 25 bucks, i recommend starting out with thedevking’s youtube channel, and then after you’re done with his videos, read the devforum, and the roblox’s docs. That’s how i basically learned it.

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Check my response from here:
https://devforum.roblox.com/t/how-did-you-scripters-learn-how-to-script/3092858/15?u=010devx101

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meta writes a whole book on how to use luau and puts it for free on the creator docs

uh best place to start is the creator docs, they have excellent onboarding for Luau as a language, if thats not enough youtube can help.

One thing to remember is, dont rush it, and apply yourself, dont just follow the tutorials, you wont learn anything if you dont actually use it.

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Hey! This is quite a common question and as always the methods of learning will differ from person to person; however, with that said a basic guideline can be used and here’s what I did:

  1. The first thing I did was probably the most obvious, I headed over to youtube and started watching some tutorials. The biggest thing to remember when watching tutorials is to not just mindlessly copy the code but to carefully watch the video and listen to the explanation, from there I would always recommend spending a few minutes tinkering with the code you were just exposed to to, so that you can grasp the concepts better. I would also recommend that after you learn a few concepts you try to put them all together to make a little something. (My Basics Scripting seriesshameless plug lol)
  2. After watching basic scripting tutorial series’ i started to try to put what I learned to use, to start it would just be little things like obby obstacles or stuff of that sort. While doing this I also started to watch some tutorials of remaking games (which is what my channel focuses on, another shameless plug!) so that I can better understand how to put my skills into practice. Once again it is important that you dont just copy the code but listen and understand it, and then as always I would recommend to try to change the code to better fit to your needs, this should help keep you away from tutorial hell.
  3. Now onto the point of no tutorials, think of your favorite game and try to make a small version of it, dont spend time focusing on the graphics like UI and buildings and stuff, just make a very minimal map that’ll suite your needs and focus on the technical programming side of things. You will definitely not know how to do everything on your own which is perfectly fine, but now you should start looking more towards the devforum and docs for your answer. Personally I think this is by far the most effective step, especially if you have no other coding background as it will teach you problem solving skills required to become a good programmer as well as just teach you a lot about the luau language itself.

I think following this guid will 100% get you into the right direction and if you just stay consistent and have a will to learn, you’ll be a decent scripter in no time. Best of luck to you and reach out if you need anything!

-The scripting legend another plug)

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