> this slow fading away into the embedded only realm would be quite a shame.
I assume you mean "embedded use in applications" (i.e. not embedded systems). That's exactly what Lua was designed and built for by its original authors. An that's how it is mostly used.
> adding some (optional, possibly slower) syntax sugar over it could make it more appealing
Lua can do surprisingly much for this lean and simple syntax. If instead you prefer a baroque, pretentious syntax like Python or TypeScript, and are obviously satisfied with Python's performance, you already have a well established solution. And as I've demonstrated e.g. with https://github.com/rochus-keller/Oberon you can replace Lua by a more complex language and still profit from the performance and leanness of LuaJIT.
So what? It has an MIT license, and there are obviously different communities with different requirements.
> it is fast even without LuaJIT
Not really. The PUC Lua VM is even slower than Python (in geometric mean) according to https://benchmarksgame-team.pages.debian.net/benchmarksgame/.... LuaJIT in interpreted (not JIT) mode is still four times faster than PUC Lua (see http://luajit.org/performance.html).
> this slow fading away into the embedded only realm would be quite a shame.
I assume you mean "embedded use in applications" (i.e. not embedded systems). That's exactly what Lua was designed and built for by its original authors. An that's how it is mostly used.
> adding some (optional, possibly slower) syntax sugar over it could make it more appealing
Lua can do surprisingly much for this lean and simple syntax. If instead you prefer a baroque, pretentious syntax like Python or TypeScript, and are obviously satisfied with Python's performance, you already have a well established solution. And as I've demonstrated e.g. with https://github.com/rochus-keller/Oberon you can replace Lua by a more complex language and still profit from the performance and leanness of LuaJIT.