Re: metatables for strings?

[Andrew Starks <andrew.starks@...>]

On Wednesday, May 6, 2015, Roberto Ierusalimschy <roberto@inf.puc-rio.br> wrote:
> > I always wondered: is there a reason why this syntax is not supported?
> > (Other than vacuously-true answers such as "it wasn't implemented that
> > way" or "because the grammar disallows it")
> >
> > In other words, does disallowing it prevent a bad grammar ambiguity,
> > or something like that?
>
> It prevents a grammar ambiguity (whether it is "bad" is up to taste):
> The code
>   a = b   "xy":foo()
> could be
>   a = b; "xy":foo()
> or
>   a = b"xy":foo()
>
> The same already happens with parentheses, but that would create yet
> another ambiguity.
>
> -- Roberto

Thank you for this explanation. 

-Andrew