Re: Possible enhancements for Lua 5.2

[Andre Leiradella <andre@...>]

On 26/06/2011 22:57, Wesley Smith wrote:
> > Like I said before, I already have a solution that is computing a hash of
> > the string and using it in the switch. What I'm looking for is someway to
> > use a hash that's already computed and save some cycles from my binding
> > code.
>
> Why not just use enums everywhere.  You can push them into Lua and
> pass them as args to your C code instead.  It seems like this would be
> much more maintainable and less of a PITA.  The point of strings is
> that they can be any sequence of characters, which if you're using in
> a switch based on hash values doesn't apply to your case.  Basically
> you're treating strings as enums, so why not just use the best tool
> for the job?
>
> wes
-- warning: contrived example code below
local level = getCurrentLevel()
level:onEnter( getHero(), level:getObject( 'volume1' ), function()
    local e = level:spanObject( 'boss1', 10, 0, 20 )
    e:setState( 'attack' )
    e:onKill( function() level:spanObject( 'exitkey', e:getPosition() ) 
end )
end)

I guess you're suggesting I could use VOLUME1, BOSS1, ATTACK and EXITKEY 
as numbers set in the global table. If so, that would involve a table 
lookup but yes, the switch on the C side would deal with numbers 
directly. But that's not my main concern.

The thing is onEnter, spanObject, setState, onKill and getPosition 
cannot be replaced by numbers without leading to seriously cryptic 
scripts which leave me with my original problem.

Cheers,

Andre