Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Lua VS mruby

Compare Lua VS mruby and see what are their differences

Lua logo Lua

Powerful, fast, lightweight, embeddable scripting language

mruby logo mruby

Game Development
  • Lua Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-01-29

We recommend LibHunt Lua for discovery and comparisons of trending Lua projects.

  • mruby Landing page
    Landing page //
    2020-01-18

Lua features and specs

  • Easy to Embed
    Lua is designed to be embedded within applications. It has a simple C API which allows it to be integrated easily with C, C++ and other languages.
  • Small Footprint
    Lua is lightweight, with a small memory footprint. This makes it ideal for use in resource-constrained environments, such as embedded systems and game development.
  • Fast Performance
    Lua is known for its high performance due to its efficient interpreter and just-in-time compilation capabilities provided by LuaJIT.
  • Simplicity
    The syntax of Lua is simple and clean, making it easy to learn and use. It's designed to be both powerful and simple.
  • Extensibility
    Lua can be extended through libraries written in C or other languages, allowing for a lot of flexibility and functionality expansion.
  • Dynamic Typing
    Lua uses dynamic typing, which can make code more flexible and easier to write without the need for explicit type definitions.

Possible disadvantages of Lua

  • Limited Standard Library
    The standard library in Lua is relatively small compared to other programming languages, which can result in the need for additional third-party libraries.
  • Niche Use Case
    Lua is not as widely adopted for general-purpose programming compared to other languages such as Python or JavaScript, which might limit community support and resources.
  • Error Handling
    Lua's error handling mechanisms are somewhat rudimentary compared to languages that offer advanced exception handling like Python or Java.
  • Lack of Type Safety
    While dynamic typing offers flexibility, it also introduces the risk of type errors at runtime, as type mismatches can only be discovered during execution.
  • Concurrency Limitations
    Lua does not have inherent support for multithreading or concurrency within the language itself. It relies on external libraries or specific environments to handle such tasks.

mruby features and specs

  • Lightweight
    mruby is designed to be small and lightweight, making it ideal for embedding in applications with limited resources.
  • Embeddable
    mruby can be easily embedded into software applications, allowing developers to script functionalities within the application.
  • Fast Execution
    It provides quick startup and execution times compared to many typical Ruby implementations, which enhances performance in resource-constrained environments.
  • Simple License
    mruby is distributed under a simple and permissive license (MIT License), which is business-friendly and promotes wide adoption.
  • Compatibility with Ruby Syntax
    mruby aims to be compatible with Ruby syntax, making it easier for developers familiar with Ruby to adopt and use it.

Possible disadvantages of mruby

  • Limited Standard Library
    mruby has a more limited standard library compared to full Ruby implementations, which can restrict development or require additional effort to implement missing features.
  • Less Mature
    Being a smaller and newer implementation, it might lack the robustness and extensive library support seen in more mature Ruby versions like MRI.
  • Less Community Support
    The community around mruby is smaller compared to the broader Ruby community, potentially leading to fewer resources or third-party libraries.
  • Incompatibility with Some Ruby Gems
    Not all Ruby gems are compatible with mruby, as some rely on native extensions or parts of the Ruby standard library that are absent in mruby.
  • Limited Debugging Tools
    The debugging and profiling tools available for mruby are not as extensive as those available for regular Ruby, which can make troubleshooting more challenging.

Lua videos

Is Lua A Good First Language To Learn?

More videos:

  • Tutorial - Introduction - What is Lua? || Lua Tutorial #1
  • Review - Xerjoff Lua Fragrance / Cologne Review + GIVEAWAY!

mruby videos

No mruby videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

Add video

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Lua and mruby)
Programming Language
90 90%
10% 10
OOP
85 85%
15% 15
Generic Programming Language
Game Engine
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Lua should be more popular than mruby. It has been mentiond 23 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Lua mentions (23)

  • What do I think about Lua after shipping a project with 60k lines of code?
    I would start at https://lua.org/ I'm creating a set of libraries to make Lua into a (still lightweight) application language https://github.com/civboot/civlua. - Source: Hacker News / about 2 years ago
  • How Programming Languages Got Their Names
    Lua means 'Moon' in Portuguese, as it is also their logo: https://lua.org. - Source: Hacker News / over 2 years ago
  • Where can I learn lua
    The official lua website is a pretty good place to go! As well as lua users & tutorials point has a really good tutorial for lua too! The official site may be hard to understand at time (it was for me at least) but thatโ€™s why I gave you the other two. theyโ€™ll explain it simpler/better than the official site may sometimes. Hope this helps! Source: over 3 years ago
  • A Weekly Class for PICO-8 Beginners
    1) Who Should Sign Up? - People with no, little, or intermediate skills in programming or PICO-8. 2) What Will We Cover? - Fantasy Console Paradigm: The Full Overview of What PICO-8 can do. - Lua and the uses of its modified API within PICO-8. Programming, 101. 3) What to Expect - A full game all your own! - Brought together in a 4-8 classes, in live teaching sessions in which you can interact with... Source: over 3 years ago
  • data types in function definition
    I have tried a few thins but no luck and found nothing on the web, also looks as if lua.org main forums no longer exist. Source: over 3 years ago
View more

mruby mentions (8)

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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Lua and mruby, you can also consider the following products

Python - Python is a clear and powerful object-oriented programming language, comparable to Perl, Ruby, Scheme, or Java.

DragonRuby Game Tookit - Tiny, fast and cross-platform, 2D game engine in Ruby.

C++ - Has imperative, object-oriented and generic programming features, while also providing the facilities for low level memory manipulation

LLVM - LLVM is a compiler infrastructure designed for compile-time, link-time, run-time, and...

Java - A concurrent, class-based, object-oriented, language specifically designed to have as few implementation dependencies as possible

LOVE 2D - Hi there! Lร–VE is an *awesome* framework you can use to make 2D games in Lua.