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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