Re: Lua 5.1+ and variable-argument tables

[Rici Lake <lua@...>]

On 20-Aug-04, at 4:52 PM, Roberto Ierusalimschy wrote:

> > The ... syntax, on the other hand, creates an odd sort of
> > pseudo-datatype which is not a first-class object at all, [...]
>
> The ... syntax does not create this pseudo-datatype. It already exists
> in the language, in the form of multiple returns. I agree that its
> second-class nature is not elegant, but it proved a quite useful and
> efficient mechanism.

Well, tuple-as-function creates no new datatype either.

Actually, I think multiple return values are fantastic. I hate 
programming
in languages that don't have them. But I don't think they are even a
second-class datatype, any more than parameter lists are a datatype (in 
Lua).

"...", on the other hand, is providing a name for a non-object, which 
is why
I called it a pseudo-datatype.

My argument is that tuples-as-functions are more useful and while 
possibly not as efficient as ..., much more efficient than 
varargs-as-tables, which is probably efficient enough (imho).

Tastes vary, of course.

Rici