Re: Empty? No. Array? No. Has? Yes.

[Dirk Laurie <dirk.laurie@...>]

2013/7/7 Andrew Starks <andrew.starks@trms.com>:
>
>
> On Sunday, July 7, 2013, Dirk Laurie wrote:
>>
>> 2013/7/7 Andrew Starks <andrew.starks@trms.com>:
>>
>>
>>
>>    Tim thinks:
>>    -  the need for such a value is sufficiently common and uniform to
>>       justify adding a name and value to the Lua language itself;
>>    -  using one of the well-known idioms to create a unique value for
>>       a particular Lua instance is an inadequate workaround.
>>
>>    Dirk thinks:
>>    -  the reason why one needs it is application-specific (SQL NULL,
>>       reserved-but-unused, etc);
>>    -  reserving a name by consensus among people that need it is good
>>       enough.
>>
>> You're welcome to add an "Andrew thinks" entry to this list.
>
>
> Thanks man! I will...
>
> Andrew thinks that:
> [about 30 lines, see the post for them]

If I am allowed to, as far as the "empty" question is concerned,
I can extract:

   Andrew thinks:
      - nil makes a fantastic "empty" sentinel value;
      - one should emphasize and increase the usefulness of nil's
        role as "empty," for which it is a natural fit.

The main thrust of Andrew's post deals with the concept of deleting
a value. That, I think, deserves a thread of its own.