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@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ span.mark { color: #4040c0; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;
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pre.mark { padding-left: 2em; }
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table.idiomtable { line-height: 1.2; }
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table.idiomtable tt { font-size: 100%; }
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+table.idiomtable td { vertical-align: top; }
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tr.idiomhead td { font-weight: bold; }
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td.idiomc { width: 12em; }
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td.idiomlua { width: 14em; }
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@@ -454,7 +455,7 @@ the origin.
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<span class="mark">④</span> If we run out of operators, we can
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define named methods, too. Here the <tt>__index</tt> table defines an
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<tt>area</tt> function. For custom indexing needs, one might want to
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-define <tt>__index</tt> and <tt>__newindex</tt> functions instead.
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+define <tt>__index</tt> and <tt>__newindex</tt> <em>functions</em> instead.
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</p>
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<p>
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<span class="mark">⑤</span> This associates the metamethods with
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@@ -478,6 +479,24 @@ defined metamethods. Note that <tt>area</tt> is a method and must be
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called with the Lua syntax for methods: <tt>a:area()</tt>, not
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<tt>a.area()</tt>.
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</p>
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+<p>
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+The C type metamethod mechanism is most useful when used in
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+conjunction with C libraries that are written in an object-oriented
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+style. Creators return a pointer to a new instance and methods take an
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+instance pointer as the first argument. Sometimes you can just point
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+<tt>__index</tt> to the library namespace and <tt>__gc</tt> to the
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+destructor and you're done. But often enough you'll want to add
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+convenience wrappers, e.g. to return actual Lua strings or when
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+returning multiple values.
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+</p>
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+<p>
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+Some C libraries only declare instance pointers as an opaque
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+<tt>void *</tt> type. In this case you can use a fake type for all
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+declarations, e.g. a pointer to a named (incomplete) struct will do:
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+<tt>typedef struct foo_type *foo_handle</tt>. The C side doesn't
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+know what you declare with the LuaJIT FFI, but as long as the underlying
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+types are compatible, everything still works.
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+</p>
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<h2 id="idioms">Translating C Idioms</h2>
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<p>
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