I used Lua as a data exchange format for some embedded devices (software defined radios) because it played nicely with the C code and the Lua scripts we would run on the device (which served as a sort of interface bridge between hardware device drivers). The Lua binary can be compiled down to < 100kB and the language itself is fast enough for a scripting language to have been useful in this context (I don't know if that still holds today, I left embedded in 2014).
It was a really pleasant experience but we were not working with a very large number of tables. I miss Lua all of the time, too, and play around with it whenever the opportunity arises. It holds a really special place in my programmer heart, alongside lisp, C, and Ruby, for having shown me some really interesting things at the right time in my career. It's too bad it doesn't have more widespread adoption, I think a lot of people could benefit from using it for the things it's good at.
It was a really pleasant experience but we were not working with a very large number of tables. I miss Lua all of the time, too, and play around with it whenever the opportunity arises. It holds a really special place in my programmer heart, alongside lisp, C, and Ruby, for having shown me some really interesting things at the right time in my career. It's too bad it doesn't have more widespread adoption, I think a lot of people could benefit from using it for the things it's good at.