I'd like to try programming with Lua, I've got a few questions first.

[RomanTheOmen]

For a school project I would like to program a game with Lua so I have a few beginner questions If anyone can help.

First, do you need to download the Lua program from Lua.org? whats the difference between using it over just using Notepad++?
are there any other programs required/helpful to program things?
also how do I run or test my .lua files?

[editline]26th April 2012[/editline]

Problem solved, sorry for the noob questions

[wizardsbane]

The Lua 'program' is necessary to compile/interpret and execute Lua on your computer. Notepad++ is just a text editor (and I would suggest Sublime 2 while on the subject [but it's all just personal preference]). Windows download: [URL]http://code.google.com/p/luaforwindows/[/URL]

You'd run your lua program by going into a command prompt and typing

C:\blah> lua helloworld.lua

You can access an interactive interpreter by just inputting:

C:\blah> lua

The windows executable that I linked comes with some good modules and an IDE, so you should be pretty set from there.