my attempt at magic

lua interpreter: http://bpaste.net/show/kidIoH7vfJlDUvEXPzdd/
still missing features like skip and parenthesis for composing operations

example code:

bindself fact conjure empty
enchant fact set cond = n 0
enchant fact if cond unsummon self with acc
enchant fact set acc * n acc
enchant fact set n - n 1
print summonhold fact with n 10 and acc 1

>>15
It is, because all variables are global by default. Early Lua implementation likely had only global scope. Moreover, without explicit declaration, you either have to do hoisting (which is bug-prone) or introduce variables on assignment, with is utterly inefficient and buggy. Lua is just broken and cant be fixed.