Language ShowOff Part #1: Lua

Pros:
   * Tiny
   * Crossplatform
   * Easy to embed
   * Fairly easy to extend
   * Has no external dependencies
   * Easy to learn due to simple syntax
   * Has metatables, which allow creating objects, and with that, allow OOP

Contra:
   * The builtin stdlib doesn't allow much more than just basic IO
   * The stackoriented API might be confusing to those unfamiliar with the concept of stackbased APIs
   * Due to the do ... end syntax, closures and co tend to look clumsy:
   
       pcall(function()
           stuff ...
       end)

Their scoping rules are broken. "Global by default" is shit. All code looks like

local local local local local
local local local local local
local local local local local local local local
local local local local
local local local local local local local local local local
local local local