Re: Unexpected error using tostring

[Andrew Starks <andrew@...>]

On 3/5/19, 11:34 AM, "lua-l-bounces@lists.lua.org on behalf of Dirk Laurie" <lua-l-bounces@lists.lua.org on behalf of dirk.laurie@gmail.com> wrote:

    The solution to all of these is:
    
    1. Read the manual.
    2. Take into account what is elsewhere in the manual, not just the
    place where you looked first.
    3. Argue like a rabbi or a Jesuit to extract the finest possible nuamces.
    
    And voilà! Everything is crystal clear, refined but malicious.
    
    So I really like your example. It illustrates a fine point clearly.


Yes. This is important. It is not enough to read the manual like an American sitting in a Starbucks with half his brain in the Facebooks and Twitters.

The reference manual must be studied. Each word is carefully balanced against the others. Remove one, and whole sections of Lua evaporate into JavaScript. If you read something that says "usually" or "normally", the author is talking to you... he's teasing you... inviting you to find the exception... 

Did Lua promise you something? Hmmm... probably not. Read again. Un-focus your eyes. Meditate. Breathe in the economy of words. Once you've held the whole Lua Reference Manual in your mind, the edges become its defining shape and everything else rings false... 


;)

-Andrew