• Author: Roberto Ierusalimschy
• Format: online HTML
• Price: free

This book is a detailed and authoritative introduction to all aspects of Lua programming, by Lua’s chief architect.

Programming in Lua gives a solid base for any programmer who wants to use Lua. It covers all aspects of Lua—from the basics to its API with C—explaining how to make good use of its features and giving numerous code examples. The book is targeted at people with some programming background, but it does not assume any prior knowledge about Lua or other scripting languages.

Chapters include:

• Chunks
• Global Variables
• Some Lexical Conventions
• The Stand-Alone Interpreter
• Nil
• Booleans
• Numbers
• Strings
• Tables
• Functions
• Userdata and Threads
• Arithmetic Operators
• Relational Operators
• Logical Operators
• Concatenation
• Precedence
• Table Constructors
• Assignment
• Local Variables and Blocks
• Control Structures
• break and return
• Multiple Results
• Variable Number of Arguments
• Named Arguments
• Closures
• Non-Global Functions
• Proper Tail Calls
• Iterators and the Generic for
• Compilation, Execution, and Errors
• Coroutine Basics
• Pipes and Filters
• Coroutines as Iterators
• Non-Preemptive Multithreading
• Complete Examples
• Arrays
• Linked Lists
• Matrices and Multi-Dimensional Arrays
• Queues and Double Queues
• Sets and Bags
• String Buffers
• Data Files and Persistence
• Arithmetic Metamethods
• Relational Metamethods
• Library-Defined Metamethods
• Table-Access Metamethods
• Accessing Global Variables with Dynamic Names
• Declaring Global Variables
• Non-Global Environments
• Packages
• Object-Oriented Programming
• Weak Tables
• The Mathematical Library
• The Table Library
• The String Library
• The I/O Library
• The Operating System Library
• The Debug Library
• An Overview of the C API
• Extending your Application
• Calling C from Lua
• Techniques for Writing C Functions
• User-Defined Types in C
• Managing Resources

http://www.lua.org/pil/

• Author: Michael Moncur
• Format: online HTML
• Price: free

JavaScript is one of the easiest, most straightforward ways to enhance a Web site with interactivity.

Sams Teach Yourself JavaScript in 24 Hours serves as an easy-to-understand tutorial on both scripting basics and JavaScript itself. The book is written in a clear and personable style with an extensive use of practical, complete examples.

Readers will learn how to use JavaScript to enhance Web pages with interactive forms, objects, and cookies. They will also discover how to use JavaScript to work with games, animation, and multimedia.

Chapters include:

• Understanding JavaScript
• Creating a Simple Script
• How JavaScript Programs Work
• Using Functions and Variables
• Using Strings and Arrays
• Testing and Comparing Values
• Repeating Yourself: Using Loops
• Using Math and Date Functions
• Working with the Document Object Model
• Responding to Events
• Using Windows and Frames
• Getting Data with Forms
• Using Graphics and Animation
• Creating Cross-Browser Scripts
• Creating Custom Objects
• Working with Sounds and Plug-Ins
• Debugging JavaScript Applications
• Working with Style Sheets
• Using Dynamic HTML (DHTML)
• Using Advanced DOM Features
• Improving a Web Page with JavaScript
• Creating a JavaScript Game
• Creating DHTML Applications
• JavaScript Tips and Tricks

http://www.informit.com/library/library.aspx?b=STY_JavaScript_24_hours

• Author: Chet Ramey and Brian Fox
• Format: online HTML
• Price: free

Bash is the shell, or command language interpreter, for the GNU operating system. The name is an acronym for the ‘Bourne-Again SHell’, a pun on Stephen Bourne, the author of the direct ancestor of the current Unix shell /bin/sh, which appeared in the Seventh Edition Bell Labs Research version of Unix.

Bash is largely compatible with sh and incorporates useful features from the Korn shell ksh and the C shell csh. It is intended to be a conformant implementation of the IEEE POSIX Shell and Tools specification (IEEE Working Group 1003.2). It offers functional improvements over sh for both interactive and programming use.

While the GNU operating system provides other shells, including a version of csh, Bash is the default shell. Like other GNU software, Bash is quite portable. It currently runs on nearly every version of Unix and a few other operating systems – independently-supported ports exist for MS-DOS, OS/2, Windows 95/98, and Windows NT.

Chapters include:

• Introduction
• Definitions
• Basic Shell Features
• Shell Syntax
• Shell Operation
• Shell Commands
• Shell Functions
• Shell Parameters
• Shell Expansions
• Redirections
• Executing Commands
• Shell Builtin Commands
• Shell Variables
• Bash Features
• Invoking Bash
• Bash Startup Files
• Interactive Shells
• Bash Conditional Expressions
• Shell Arithmetic
• Aliases
• Arrays
• The Directory Stack
• Controlling the Prompt
• The Restricted Shell
• Bash POSIX Mode
• Job Control
• Command Line Editing
• Readline Interaction
• Readline Init File
• Bindable Readline Commands
• Readline vi Mode
• Programmable Completion
• Using History Interactively
• Installing Bash

http://www.linuxtopia.org/online_books/bash_reference_guide/index.html

• Author: Machtelt Garrels
• Format: online HTML
• Price: free

The primary reason for this document is that a lot of readers feel the existing HOWTO to be too short and incomplete, while the Bash Scripting guide is too much of a reference work. There is nothing in between these two extremes. It was also written on the general principal that not enough free basic courses are available, though they should be.

This is a practical guide which, while not always being too serious, tries to give real-life instead of theoretical examples. It was partly written because the author doesn’t get excited with stripped down and over-simplified examples written by people who know what they are talking about, showing some really cool Bash feature so much out of its context that you cannot ever use it in practical circumstances. You can read that sort of stuff after finishing this book, which contains exercises and examples that will help you survive in the real world.

From the author’s experience as a UNIX/Linux user, system administrator and trainer, he knows that people can have years of daily interaction with their systems, without having the slightest knowledge of task automation. Thus they often think that UNIX is not user friendly, and even worse, they get the impression that it is slow and old-fashioned. This problem is another one that can be remedied by this guide.

Chapters include:

• Introduction
• Bash and Bash scripts
• Writing and debugging scripts
• The Bash environment
• Regular expressions
• The GNU sed stream editor
• The GNU awk programming language
• Conditional statements
• Writing interactive scripts
• Repetitive tasks
• More on variables
• Functions
• Catching signals

http://www.linuxtopia.org/online_books/bash_guide_for_beginners/index.html