Re: Redefine "=".

["Jérôme VUARAND" <jerome.vuarand@...>]

t = {}
setmetatable(t, {
 __newindex = function(self, key, value)
   print("Hello World! ("..key..value..")")
 end
})

t["foo"] = "bar"
> Hello World! (foobar)

There is a strong distinction between variables and values in Lua.
Variables are merely references to values. In :
t = "foo"
you are not affecting a value to the above table, you are affecting a
new value to an untyped variable (t). But you cannot set metatable for
variables, only for values. That's a good reason for not having a kind
of __reference or __copy metamethod.

2006/6/1, Alexey Zaytsev <alexey.zaytsev@gmail.com>:
> Hello.
>
> Is it possible to redefine the reference ("=") operator for tables in lua?
> I thougth it is a job for metamethods, but could not find any. Is
> there any reason for not having any __reference (or __copy) metamethod
> in lua?