Yes, the TeX language is pretty horrible (indeed, the whole concept of TeX is a testament to the strength of cannabis available in the Bay Area in the 70s - it's not a typesetting system, it's two separate programming languages which typeset as a side effect!). LuaTeX is an attempt to remedy this situation by embedding lua in the TeX engine: http://www.luatex.org/

(It's also no coincidence that the development of BibTeX coincides with the crack epidemic, but I digress.)