Hello,
While browsing this forum and having done a lot of game development in Lua, I realised I had this tidbit of information that had not been mentioned on this forum. So here we go.
A code linter is a plugin for your script editor that tries to run parts of your script and will notify you what and where you probably made a mistake. It's quite limited in the type of mistakes it will catch for you, but at I noticed several help topics here where this technique would've found the mistake sooner.
Here's how to get rolling:
- Install a code editor that supports plugins, like Atom (free, open-source) or Sublime Text (free trial)
- Install a base Linter plugin (for Atom, or for Sublime Text). This will require you to find out how to install plugins for your text editor. For Atom it's buildin, for Sublime Text you will have to read the documentation on the website I linked to.
- Install the Lua Linter (Atom, Sublime Text)
- Type away!!
- Get told off by your editor!! (these error messages will appear as you type)