How many lights and at what frequency? I assume lights means LEDs.
For low frequencies with a small number of LEDs, you can use a scripting language like Perl, csh, or Python. For more demanding requirements, a higher level language will be more capable.
If all you want to do is blink LEDs, Arduino can drive single LEDs (or multiple in series) without needing the the outputs to be buffered. Pi outputs are 3.3V and can't sink or source much current.