Ok here goes...
I have been experimenting on various examples of declaring functions with "self" in the parameters.
I don't have full understanding of this which is what I'm trying to fully understand. I'm a complete beginner, but I am compelled to grasp this fully.
The 2 examples below return the same results, although in example 2, if I don't declare "self = {}" within the function, I need to place "self" (or the ":") in the function parameters for it to work. Is this the whole deal with "self"?
Are there other implications when using "self"?
Example 1
function Character.new(x)
self = {}
self.name = x
return self.name
end
a = Character
b = Character
hobbit = a.new ("Frodo")
dragon = b.new ("Smaug")
print (hobbit)
print (dragon)
Example 2
Character = {}
function Character:new(x)
self.name = x
return self.name
end
a = Character
b = Character
hobbit = a:new ("Frodo")
dragon = b:new ("Smaug")
print (hobbit)
print (dragon)
;^)
Zalokin
You're using global variables when you should be creating instances.
Try these lines instead, they may help you understand:
-- example 1
print (hobbit)
print(self.name)
print (dragon)
print(self.name)
and
-- example 2
print (hobbit)
print(Character.name)
print (dragon)
print(Character.name)
: lets you access the table which includes the function from within the function without an explicit (first argument) pass. It can be used both when defining and calling a function.
The example below contains a table t. The table has 3 functions (a,b and c) and a string entry under the key greeting.
All the function/method calls print the same string "hello user".
Notice how you can still call a method (a function which has its container table as the first argument) the same way as a normal function, but you have to explicitly pass the table as the first argument.
The self argument can be called what ever you want and you can still call the function with a : as long as you use the correct argument name inside the function (not self in this case). The function c serves as an example of that.
It is basically just syntax sugar.
local t = {}
t.greeting = "hello"
function t:a(name)
print(self.greeting, name)
end
function t.b(self, name)
print(self.greeting, name)
end
function t.c(myself, name)
print(myself.greeting, name)
end
t.a(t, "user")
t:a("user")
t.b(t, "user")
t:b("user")
t.c(t, "user")
t:c("user")
Related
I need to get the variable a function's return value is assigned to.
function example()
end
variable = 3 --just for example
variable = example() --I need the value of variable(in this case 3) passed as an argument to example()
Please read the Lua reference on how to call and define functions.
https://www.lua.org/manual/5.3/manual.html#3.4.10
https://www.lua.org/manual/5.3/manual.html#3.4.11
You can simply do this:
function fancyFunction(val)
return val
end
local val = 3
val = fancyFunction(val)
of course this minimum example does not make much sense. You should of course have another return value than your argument. Otherwise you don't have to call the function in the first place.
(Quite hard to understand what you're trying to do.) Could you possibly be referring to object oriented programming? If so, then you need something like this:
--setup
t = {}
function t:set(v) self.value = v end --assign value to 'variable'
function t:get() return self.value end
--use
t:set(3)
print(t:get())
I'm trying to create a function with local functions within it. The main function would receive an output from an outside source, and the functions within it would be required to translate that input and return results for later use. My problem is that the way I am currently attempting this, when I try to put in my first local function inside the main function, I continue to get nil. Here is an example:
function stats(input)
height, weight, name, age, gender, relate = string.match(input, "(%d*)ft,(%d*)lbs,(%w*),(%d*),(%u*),(%u)")
if name then
function nameInit(relate)
relateTable = {["F"] = "Friend", ["R"] = "Relative"}
for k,v in pairs (relateTable) do
if relate == k then
relship = v
return relship
end
end
end
end
person = name.." is "..age.." years old, weighs "..weight.." and blah blah blah....
return person
end
print (stats("5.8ft, 160lbs, Mike Scott, 19, M, F"))
Obviously, this subject isn't practical but what I'm trying to do is along the same lines in terms of end response. I'm currently getting lua: filename: attempt to concatenate global 'relship' (a nil value)? I can get the response I want without the nested function. But when I try to elaborate more on the response I would like to receive, and place that function inside the global function, I begin to get these response(s). This seems to be my problem anytime I attempt to use functions within other functions. I can make two separate global functions and print results from either one. But the minute I try to use one within another, I screw myself up. Anyone who can take some time to help a beginner better understand what he is doing wrong would be great! Thanks all.
Based on your statement "the functions within it would be required to translate that input and return results for later use", I'm not sure that nested functions is what you want. You say that when you have two global functions your code works:
function func1(args)
...
end
function func2(args)
...
end
but when you nest (for example) func1 inside func2, it no longer works. Lua does allow you to define nested functions, but I can only think of two reasons to use them:
to return a function that encapsulates a task, usually with some of the wrapper function's args and/or locals as upvalues.
to encapsulate some logic in a function to be called from within the wrapper function, with no need for any other functions to call it.
For example of case 1:
function func2(a, b, c)
function func1()
do something with a, b, c eventhough they are not args of func1
return result
end
return func1
end
someFunc = func2(1,2,3)
....
result = someFunc() -- calls func1 created inside func2, using 1,2,3
For example of case 2:
function func2(a, b, c)
function func1()
do something with a, b, c eventhough they are not args of func1
return result
end
result = func1()
...
end
func2(1,2,3)
You could also add a nested function to a table object (class) passed as argument, but I see this as a variation on case 1.
I can't seem to get user input for a number of times to display. For example, if the input is
Jeff 6
The output should be
Jeff
Jeff
Jeff
Jeff
Jeff
Jeff
I'm new to functions in Python, but here is my code thus far:
def getName():
name = raw_input("please enter name")
return name
def getRepval():
irepnum = float(raw_input("please enter number to show name entered"))
return irepnum
def inamed(name, irepnum):
count = 1 #the loop to show the name entered by the user
while irepnum != count:
print name
count += 1 #do I need to use return??
def main(): #having the main func like this gives me an infinite loop
irepnum = 0
iname = getName() #I think my problem is somewhere here.
irepnum = getRepval()
inamed(irepnum,name)
main()
You need to call inamed(iname, irepnum), not inamed(irepnum, name), as you are doing now.
Other than the obvious mistake of name not being defined (the actual variable is called iname), the wrong order causes irepnum in the function to be set to a string the user entered as name. Since count, no matter how large, never compares equal to the passed string, the code loops infinitely.
Several tips:
Learn to use the for loop and xrange. The idiom you want is for count in xrange(irepnum):. (Using it would have prevented this bug.)
Give more distinctive names to your identifiers. Currently you have an inamed function and an iname variable. Confusing.
Don't use floats where an int would suffice. Misusing floats is asking for trouble.
I was able to store functions into a table. But now I have no idea of how to invoke them. The final table will have about 100 calls, so if possible, I'd like to invoke them as if in a foreach loop. Thanks!
Here is how the table was defined:
game_level_hints = game_level_hints or {}
game_level_hints.levels = {}
game_level_hints.levels["level0"] = function()
return
{
[on_scene("scene0")] =
{
talk("hint0"),
talk("hint1"),
talk("hint2")
},
[on_scene("scene1")] =
{
talk("hint0"),
talk("hint1"),
talk("hint2")
}
}
end
Aaand the function definitions:
function on_scene(sceneId)
-- some code
return sceneId
end
function talk(areaId)
-- some code
return areaId
end
EDIT:
I modified the functions so they'll have a little more context. Basically, they return strings now. And what I was hoping to happen is that at then end of invoking the functions, I'll have a table (ideally the levels table) containing all these strings.
Short answer: to call a function (reference) stored in an array, you just add (parameters), as you'd normally do:
local function func(a,b,c) return a,b,c end
local a = {myfunc = func}
print(a.myfunc(3,4,5)) -- prints 3,4,5
In fact, you can simplify this to
local a = {myfunc = function(a,b,c) return a,b,c end}
print(a.myfunc(3,4,5)) -- prints 3,4,5
Long answer: You don't describe what your expected results are, but what you wrote is likely not to do what you expect it to do. Take this fragment:
game_level_hints.levels["level0"] = function()
return
{
[on_scene("scene0")] =
{
talk("hint0"),
}
}
end
[This paragraph no longer applies after the question has been updated] You reference on_scene and talk functions, but you don't "store" those functions in the table (since you explicitly referenced them in your question, I presume the question is about these functions). You actually call these functions and store the values they return (they both return nil), so when this fragment is executed, you get "table index is nil" error as you are trying to store nil using nil as the index.
If you want to call the function you stored in game_level_hints.levels["level0"], you just do game_level_hints.levels["level0"]()
Using what you guys answered and commented, I was able to come up with the following code as a solution:
asd = game_level_hints.levels["level0"]()
Now, asd contains the area strings I need. Although ideally, I intended to be able to access the data like:
asd[1][1]
accessing it like:
asd["scene0"][1]
to retrieve the area data would suffice. I'll just have to work around the keys.
Thanks, guys.
It's not really clear what you're trying to do. Inside your anonymous function, you're returning a table that uses on_scene's return value as keys. But your on_scene doesn't return anything. Same thing for talk.
I'm going to assume that you wanted on_scene and talk to get called when invoking each levels in your game_level_hints table.
If so, this is how you can do it:
local maxlevel = 99
for i = 0, maxlevel do
game_level_hints.levels["level" .. i] = function()
on_scene("scene" .. i)
talk("hint" .. i)
end
end
-- ...
for levelname, levelfunc in pairs(game_level_hints.levels) do
levelfunc()
end
I am confused about the difference between function calls via . and via :
> x = {foo = function(a,b) return a end, bar = function(a,b) return b end, }
> return x.foo(3,4)
3
> return x.bar(3,4)
4
> return x:foo(3,4)
table: 0x10a120
> return x:bar(3,4)
3
What is the : doing ?
The colon is for implementing methods that pass self as the first parameter. So x:bar(3,4)should be the same as x.bar(x,3,4).
For definition it is exactly the same as specifying self manually - it will even produce same bytecode on compilation. I.e. function object:method(arg1, arg2) is same as function object.method(self, arg1, arg2).
On use : is almost the same as . - a special kind of call will be used internally to make sure object and any possible side-effects of calculations/access are calculated only once. Calling object:method(arg1, arg2) is otherwise same as object.method(object, arg1, arg2).
To be completely precise, obj:method(1, 2, 3) is the same as
do
local _obj = obj
_obj.method(_obj, 1, 2, 3)
end
Why the local variable? Because, as many have pointed out, obj:method() only indexes _ENV once to get obj. This normally just important when considering speed, but consider this situation:
local tab do
local obj_local = { method = function(self, n) print n end }
tab = setmetatable({}, {__index = function(idx)
print "Accessing "..idx
if idx=="obj" then return obj_local end
end})
end
tab.obj.method(tab.obj, 20)
--> Accessing obj
--> Accessing obj
--> 20
tab.obj:method(10)
--> Accessing obj
--> 10
Now imagine the __index metamethod did more than just printing something. Imagine it increased a counter, logged something to a file or deleted a random user from your database. There's a big difference between doing that twice or only once. In this case, there's a clear difference between obj.method(obj, etc) and obj:method(etc).