Lua Tables Patterns

Introduction

Tables are Lua's sole compound data structure, serving as arrays, dictionaries, objects, modules, and more. This versatility makes tables fundamental to Lua programming, enabling implementations of virtually any data structure through creative use of table features and metatables.

Tables use associative arrays that can be indexed with any Lua value except nil and NaN. Array-like tables use consecutive integer indices starting from 1, while dictionary-like tables use arbitrary keys. Metatables enable operator overloading and advanced behaviors.

This skill covers table fundamentals, array and dictionary patterns, metatables, object-oriented programming, common data structures, performance optimization, and idiomatic table manipulation techniques.

Table Fundamentals