Using parameters as local variables

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#1

So a long while back I learned a trick with Lua coding where you could create variables in the parameters that you wouldn’t pass to, and use those instead of local variables.

During the time, there was a practical reason to do this in order to avoid memory leaks in a faulty game engine.

I’m curious about the practicality of using parameters for variables in the Roblox engine.

I.E.

function foo(bar)
    bar = Instance.new("World")
    print(bar)
end

What impact would this have on the code?

1 Like
#2

Doing this would only save on so so so so little memory, that it doesn’t even matter, since after the function finishes up, it’ll just nil out anyway.

#3

What this will do is set a Argument as a Instance.

It wont make a big impact, you can always change it to a specified value :slight_smile:

function foo(bar: Instance) -- Assigned as an Item

They are usually use for Sending Data

local function myFunction(x, y, z)
   return x+y+z
end

print(myFunction(1,2,3)) -- prints "6"


local Number 

function A(x)
Number = x
end


print(A("Hi"))
#4

I would personally use this:

local function someFunction(bar)
    local bar= bar or Instance.new('World')
    -- whatever
end

but your method really doesn’t change anything, or the change is so slight that it’s considered the same thing.

#5

Probably none, as far as I know, a local variable would have no more memory impact than an empty parameter initialized as the value in Luau. As Studio is a mostly online game engine (i.e. you have to be connected to the internet to start it up), even if this issue existed someone could make a GitHub issue on their official page and it would be fixed for everyone.