I use it as a configuration and data language, mostly for building APIs for other libraries (like SDL2).
The syntax is simple and clean, like JSON but without the most commonly cited warts (no requirement to quote keys, and comments are allowed.) The VM is lightweight enough that including it in an application is practically inconsequential. I like its modular syntax as well. There are also bindings for just about every language out there, making Lua code more easily portable and embeddable.
It's not without its flaws as a language but to me, it's better suited as a config language than TOML, YAML or XML for most use cases where you don't actually need their complexity, or JSON if you're not on the web.
The syntax is simple and clean, like JSON but without the most commonly cited warts (no requirement to quote keys, and comments are allowed.) The VM is lightweight enough that including it in an application is practically inconsequential. I like its modular syntax as well. There are also bindings for just about every language out there, making Lua code more easily portable and embeddable.
It's not without its flaws as a language but to me, it's better suited as a config language than TOML, YAML or XML for most use cases where you don't actually need their complexity, or JSON if you're not on the web.