I’ve never delved much into Metatables as they’ve always seemed really complicated, However recently. I’ve been doing some research for optimization and organization,
I’ve also seen that many scripts use metatables and i was wondering if it can be used at all to optimize or organize a script.
In my case: I have a game that deals with grabbing items and car physics etc.
Would it be practical or efficient at all to use metatables? and do i need to learn them to become a sucessful scripter?
If a table has a metatable, it will be slower to index, add values to, etc. Metatables aren’t ever necessary for use, they’re just something people find convenient.
Setting up a table with a metatable can let you add extra functionality, such as using arithmetic operators and comparators. The most common example I see is using it to implement object-oriented structures, where people create a ‘base’ table with default values. The constructor function would return a new table with the base set as its metatable, so it ‘inherits’ the functions and values assigned to the metatable. However, a similar thing can be achieved by initializing the variables and methods inside the constructor function. People just use metatables to make it more convenient, as mentioned earlier.
Here is a list of methods you can use in metatables. They can be useful in some cases, but there’s no need to add complexity to your code if you can achieve the same functionality without them.
IOW, don’t use it if you don’t need it.
Thank you @posatta and @Blokav for your answers, That cleared up my speculation of metatables.
Like @Blokav said, the common use for metatables is to implement OOP structures. If you find yourself writing the same code and defining the same values in multiple places, or if your infrastructure just seems rigid and inflexible to changes, this is something you might want to consider. In terms of performance, it can save memory in some cases where you have tables sharing the same metatable, and as long as a table doesn’t override a particular value in the metatable, they’ll all share a reference to the same space in memory for that value. So in regards to inheritance, it can save memory, to what extent depends on what you’re doing.