Lua design : why no lists ?

[Philippe Fremy <phil@...>]

	Hi,

I am quite new to lua but I have a python background. I think lua is great 
because it is _very_ easy to embed, and is quite a powerful language, by 
its simplicity. I love that class as table thing for example.

However, there are two things that I find strange:
1. the absence of list
2. the pack/unpack thing

The absence of list surprise me. A list is quite a common need and 
implementing the current list on top of tables is not as convenient and as 
simple as a real list. A list is quite simple, and I believe, easier to 
optimise than a full table. Why not provide one ? I find the hacks around 
table to make it emulate list behaviour not very elegant, for something 
that common.

The second thing which surprise me is the pack/unpack thing. In lua, you 
have no object to represent the (1,2). You can pack them and unpack them 
but it is difficult to get a hand on them. When a function return a,b,c , 
you can either store each of them but maniuplating the result without 
storing a,b,c into 3 variables is not very practicle. You need to 
pack/unpack them before doing anything. I find this quite suprising given 
the simplicity and the power of the rest of the language.

I like the two together. With a proper list implementation, it would be 
easier to manipulate packed data.

I am curious about the design decision behind this. If somebody where to 
implement list in lua, would it be rejected ?

	regards,

	Philippe


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