Sr. No Lua JavaScript
1 Lua is one of the cross-platform programming languages which is a small scripting language for designing a web application that is embedded in other applications. JavaScript is a high-level text-based programming language that is also a scripting language for designing heavy web design apps, web MVC frameworks, which can also be found in NoSQL DB such as mongoDB.
2 To run any Lua codes we need to install a Lua interpreter which then the codes are executable, where this interpreter also provides some libraries, and the installation process is very simple. There is no need to install JavaScript which is already installed in many browsers such as chrome also along with powerful consoles are built in this programming language.
3 This scripting language which works well-embedded part of any host application which is powerful but it is small so that it usually can be run on microcontroller platforms. JavaScript can run on both browser and server. It is also possible for Javascript to run a web browser with Node. Js and this is the only scripting language that can be used on both client and server sides.
4 Lua also has a very simple and readable syntax which is modeled from Modula which make it easy to lean and suitable for beginners who are learning Lua programming language. In JavaScript, the syntax is very easy to learn and it is easier if we known C programming language as the syntax is kind of C-like syntax when you start using JavaScript.
5 Lua is also good in performance than any languages but it is not that faster say for a simple loop with one function call which executes on runs slower when compared to Javascript. But Lua can be made faster which is known as further improvement in Lua by using the LuaJIT compiler which speeds the rival codes. Java is very good at performance as it is faster when compared to Lua wherein a simple loop with one function call Javascript executes this kind of function much faster than in Lua.
6 Lua surprisingly provides Tail Call Optimization feature and in Lua, it works nice and also multiple return values it gives which is great. JavaScript usually does not optimize tail calls but it can be implemented. JavaScript offers Tail Call Optimization through ES2015 with very strict mode.
7 In Lua, when we are dealing with an array the elements are usually indexed from 1 which means it starts counting from 1 when the indexes are provided in the array. In JavaScript, when dealing with array the indexing here starts from 0 as JavaScript is zero-based indexing in the array which means it starts counting from 0 when the indexes are provided in the array.
8 Lua does not provide any types to the variables as they provide data types to values that are stored in variables as Lua is a dynamically typed language. JavaScript does not contain the concept of data types as it is weakly typed language.
9 Lua is a powerful, lightweight, and fast programming language which is used as an embeddable scripting language. JavaScript is also a lightweight, interpreted scripting language which is an object-oriented programming language along with the first-class function.
10 Lua has access to LuaJIT which can be useful for working with additional features. JavaScript has an access to Typescript which provides various features.