User blog comment:Ducksoup/Why Wikia Evolves/@comment-24473195-20150619235105/@comment-5448890-20150621232557

I'm nosy, so I'll put my two cents here.

I don't use Lua. I will never use Lua.

Compared to parser functions, Lua is incredibly hard for someone with only a liiiiiittle coding knowledge to grasp. Wanna change something?

Looks like you're gonna have to beg somebody or pore over documentation.

With parser functions, one can learn everything they need to know for most of their basic wikitext needs from mediawiki.org -- one page on that site, nonetheless.

That being said, there is a flip side to the situation. If someone were to make a wiki full of Lua and devoid of Parser Function templates, and then made a page which documented important Lua templates, chances are a new editor or an adopter of that wiki could pick up the wikitext usage.

It's all a matter of usage, really.

Look, we use Parser Functions for a different reason than Lua.

One uses Lua to:


 * Expand usability
 * Add functions
 * Mess with the programming behind complex, user-created tools
 * Make custom tools

One uses Parser Functions to:


 * Work with a few basic, user-friendly page functions
 * Create unique templates that share similar coding
 * only learn one more aspect of Wikitext (as opposed to learning both Lua itself and how to use Lua modules)

Yes, Lua can replace Parser Functions, but only for those willing to work with it. Parser Functions can do the same -- albeit in an occasionally more cringeworthy way -- so I say just let the people use what they will.