When and how to use metatables?

[MrUserNumber (User)]

You can write your topic however you want, but you need to answer these questions:

1. What do you want to achieve? Keep it simple and clear!
   I want to learn about metatables and when to use them.

2. What is the issue? Include screenshots / videos if possible!
   I do not understand how to use it.

3. What solutions have you tried so far? Did you look for solutions on the Developer Hub?
   I have looked on the developer hub, but still don’t get it.

[waves5217 (waves)]

Excellent tutorial by starmaq:

All you need to know about Metatables and Metamethods

Metatables! Truly an interesting subject. Through my activity in different forums and discord servers, I have seen many people get confused, on what they are. Main reason being, not a super wide collection of resources exist explaining them, and in general the idea of metatables is different and unique for someone who is still baby-sitted by how straight forward Luau is. I. Metatables There isn’t really a definition to what a metatable is. It’s just that, any table can have a metatable. Stick …

Once you dive into OOP (Object-oriented programming), by JonByte:

Concepts: Object Oriented Programming in Roblox

December 8, 2022: It has been a while, but I am working on a modern rewrite of this tutorial. The post will be edited with the new article and the old one will be archived if you ever want to look back on it. Right now there is no estimated time for finishing the rewrite, but it will be soon (December - January). INFORMATION The goal of this tutorial is to act as a guide and resource for those who want to learn about the principles of Object Oriented Programming in Roblox. The language use…

[ThanksRoBama (Emma)]

Not just for objects, they allow you to extend the functionality of tables in all kinds of ways!

As always, the manual and Programming in Lua book are great resources:

https://www.lua.org/manual/5.1/manual.html#2.8

https://www.lua.org/pil/13.html

LuaUsers also has lots of info, here’s a list of everything metatables “can do” (all metamethods):

http://lua-users.org/wiki/MetatableEvents

You should also check the Roblox wiki, as there are some Roblox-specific (i.e. Luau) things to keep in mind:

Metatables | Documentation - Roblox Creator Hub