Self-initializing tables

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

A module is attached that contains the following comments:

-- Self-initializing table. The point is that `tbl[key]` is never nil.
--   tbl = selfinit(tbl)   -- makes an existing table self-initializing
--                            and returns it
--   tblx = tbl.x          -- tbl.x is an empty table with the same
--                            metatable as x
--   tbl.a.b.c.d = 'item'  -- tbl.a, tbl.a.b, tblc.a.b.c are created too,
--                            even if `item` is nil.
--   tbl = selfinit()      -- creates a new self-initializing table
-- WARNING: The implications are strongly counterintuitive.
-- 1. You will need `rawget` to find out whether a table entry exists.
-- 2. If `ipairs` is found by the module loader to treat an empty self-
-- initializing table as non-empty, it is monkey-patched to use `rawget`.

Use it at your own peril.

Something like this may well have been done before. Please supply
pointers; I'll gladly concede priority.