#beyondallreason — Public Fediverse posts

I've been poking around the game-logic code for #beyondallreason and like

Look, I think Lua is a cool project and it's basically ubiquitous for this kind of scripting. And I know that metatables and all that are there to be used. But this function to make a new """class""" really does not pass the smell test for me. Maybe that's just my ignorance of Lua talking but like look at this thing:

class.lua

-- class.lua
-- Compatible with Lua 5.1 (not 5.0).
function class(base, init)
   local c = {}    -- a new class instance
   if not init and type(base) == 'function' then
      init = base
      base = nil
   elseif type(base) == 'table' then
    -- our new class is a shallow copy of the base class!
      for i,v in pairs(base) do
         c[i] = v
      end
      c._base = base
   end
   -- the class will be the metatable for all its objects,
   -- and they will look up their methods in it.
   c.__index = c

   -- expose a constructor which can be called by <classname>(<args>)
   local mt = {}
   mt.__call = function(class_tbl, ...)
      local obj = {}
      setmetatable(obj,c)
      if init then
         init(obj,...)
      else
         -- make sure that any stuff from the base class is initialized!
         if base and base.init then
            base.init(obj, ...)
         end
      end
      return obj
   end
   c.init = init
   c.is_a = function(self, klass)
      local m = getmetatable(self)
      while m do
         if m == klass then return true end
         m = m._base
      end
      return false
   end
   setmetatable(c, mt)
   return c
end

I've been poking around the game-logic code for #beyondallreason and like

Look, I think Lua is a cool project and it's basically ubiquitous for this kind of scripting. And I know that metatables and all that are there to be used. But this function to make a new """class""" really does not pass the smell test for me. Maybe that's just my ignorance of Lua talking but like look at this thing:

class.lua

-- class.lua
-- Compatible with Lua 5.1 (not 5.0).
function class(base, init)
   local c = {}    -- a new class instance
   if not init and type(base) == 'function' then
      init = base
      base = nil
   elseif type(base) == 'table' then
    -- our new class is a shallow copy of the base class!
      for i,v in pairs(base) do
         c[i] = v
      end
      c._base = base
   end
   -- the class will be the metatable for all its objects,
   -- and they will look up their methods in it.
   c.__index = c

   -- expose a constructor which can be called by <classname>(<args>)
   local mt = {}
   mt.__call = function(class_tbl, ...)
      local obj = {}
      setmetatable(obj,c)
      if init then
         init(obj,...)
      else
         -- make sure that any stuff from the base class is initialized!
         if base and base.init then
            base.init(obj, ...)
         end
      end
      return obj
   end
   c.init = init
   c.is_a = function(self, klass)
      local m = getmetatable(self)
      while m do
         if m == klass then return true end
         m = m._base
      end
      return false
   end
   setmetatable(c, mt)
   return c
end

I've been poking around the game-logic code for #beyondallreason and like

Look, I think Lua is a cool project and it's basically ubiquitous for this kind of scripting. And I know that metatables and all that are there to be used. But this function to make a new """class""" really does not pass the smell test for me. Maybe that's just my ignorance of Lua talking but like look at this thing:

class.lua

-- class.lua
-- Compatible with Lua 5.1 (not 5.0).
function class(base, init)
   local c = {}    -- a new class instance
   if not init and type(base) == 'function' then
      init = base
      base = nil
   elseif type(base) == 'table' then
    -- our new class is a shallow copy of the base class!
      for i,v in pairs(base) do
         c[i] = v
      end
      c._base = base
   end
   -- the class will be the metatable for all its objects,
   -- and they will look up their methods in it.
   c.__index = c

   -- expose a constructor which can be called by <classname>(<args>)
   local mt = {}
   mt.__call = function(class_tbl, ...)
      local obj = {}
      setmetatable(obj,c)
      if init then
         init(obj,...)
      else
         -- make sure that any stuff from the base class is initialized!
         if base and base.init then
            base.init(obj, ...)
         end
      end
      return obj
   end
   c.init = init
   c.is_a = function(self, klass)
      local m = getmetatable(self)
      while m do
         if m == klass then return true end
         m = m._base
      end
      return false
   end
   setmetatable(c, mt)
   return c
end

I've been poking around the game-logic code for #beyondallreason and like

Look, I think Lua is a cool project and it's basically ubiquitous for this kind of scripting. And I know that metatables and all that are there to be used. But this function to make a new """class""" really does not pass the smell test for me. Maybe that's just my ignorance of Lua talking but like look at this thing:

class.lua

-- class.lua
-- Compatible with Lua 5.1 (not 5.0).
function class(base, init)
   local c = {}    -- a new class instance
   if not init and type(base) == 'function' then
      init = base
      base = nil
   elseif type(base) == 'table' then
    -- our new class is a shallow copy of the base class!
      for i,v in pairs(base) do
         c[i] = v
      end
      c._base = base
   end
   -- the class will be the metatable for all its objects,
   -- and they will look up their methods in it.
   c.__index = c

   -- expose a constructor which can be called by <classname>(<args>)
   local mt = {}
   mt.__call = function(class_tbl, ...)
      local obj = {}
      setmetatable(obj,c)
      if init then
         init(obj,...)
      else
         -- make sure that any stuff from the base class is initialized!
         if base and base.init then
            base.init(obj, ...)
         end
      end
      return obj
   end
   c.init = init
   c.is_a = function(self, klass)
      local m = getmetatable(self)
      while m do
         if m == klass then return true end
         m = m._base
      end
      return false
   end
   setmetatable(c, mt)
   return c
end

I've been poking around the game-logic code for #beyondallreason and like

Look, I think Lua is a cool project and it's basically ubiquitous for this kind of scripting. And I know that metatables and all that are there to be used. But this function to make a new """class""" really does not pass the smell test for me. Maybe that's just my ignorance of Lua talking but like look at this thing:

class.lua

-- class.lua
-- Compatible with Lua 5.1 (not 5.0).
function class(base, init)
   local c = {}    -- a new class instance
   if not init and type(base) == 'function' then
      init = base
      base = nil
   elseif type(base) == 'table' then
    -- our new class is a shallow copy of the base class!
      for i,v in pairs(base) do
         c[i] = v
      end
      c._base = base
   end
   -- the class will be the metatable for all its objects,
   -- and they will look up their methods in it.
   c.__index = c

   -- expose a constructor which can be called by <classname>(<args>)
   local mt = {}
   mt.__call = function(class_tbl, ...)
      local obj = {}
      setmetatable(obj,c)
      if init then
         init(obj,...)
      else
         -- make sure that any stuff from the base class is initialized!
         if base and base.init then
            base.init(obj, ...)
         end
      end
      return obj
   end
   c.init = init
   c.is_a = function(self, klass)
      local m = getmetatable(self)
      while m do
         if m == klass then return true end
         m = m._base
      end
      return false
   end
   setmetatable(c, mt)
   return c
end