Re: Definition of table.insert

[Alexander Gladysh <agladysh@...>]

On Sat, Jan 8, 2011 at 14:55, David Kastrup <dak@gnu.org> wrote:
> Alexander Gladysh <agladysh@gmail.com> writes:
>> On Sat, Jan 8, 2011 at 14:40, David Kastrup <dak@gnu.org> wrote:
>>> Alexander Gladysh <agladysh@gmail.com> writes:
>>>> On Sat, Jan 8, 2011 at 13:28, David Kastrup <dak@gnu.org> wrote:

>>> There is no way to insert nil in a table.  No matter what the user
>>> wants.

>> Hmm. Why not?

>> t = { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 }
>> print("Before:", unpack(t, 1, 5))
>> for i = #t, 3, -1 do
>>   t[i + 1] = t[i]
>> end
>> t[3] = nil
>> print("After:", unpack(t, 1, 6))

>> (Strictly speaking that is not a nil, but a "hole", but that is matter
>> of terminology.)

> No, it isn't.  If I now do t[4]=nil; t[5]=nil; t[6]=nil I have _not_
> touched t[3] at all, but clearly the table ends up with length 2.  So
> there definitely has not been a value at index 3.

I am sorry, but I did not speak about "value". I did speak about nil or a hole.

I also haven't mentioned length of the table.

Alexander.