Re: [ANN] Lua 5.2.0 (alpha) now available

[Richard Hundt <richardhundt@...>]

On 12/11/2010 10:49 AM, steve donovan wrote:
> > table.insert(t, 1)
> > table.insert(t, nil)
> > table.insert(t, 3)
>
> why not just?
>
> t[1] = 1
> t[3] = 3

Sorry for my terse response earlier.

My point is that, although there is a way of creating a sparse table 
which works in a numeric for loop which (i.e. the # operator respects 
the number of elements the table was constructed with barring trailing 
nil's), there is no way of creating such a table procedurally. So it 
seems of limited value having the only way of creating such a table 
being with a table literal.

Of course, with the __len metamethod working for tables now, it's not 
hard to make it work, so it's a minor point, but perhaps not entirely 
moot. There is, after all, a way of distinguishing between being passed 
"nil" (a constant) and "none" (no value) from C.

Cheers,
Richard