Avoid "bad programming habits" in the reference system

References were using both 0 indices and nils as values in arrays.
Both do not fit in the concept of a sequence, which is the kind
of use that guides all Lua optimizations.

lauxlib.c

@@ -639,10 +639,14 @@ LUALIB_API char *luaL_buffinitsize (lua_State *L, luaL_Buffer *B, size_t sz) {
 ** =======================================================
 */
 
-/* index of free-list header */
-#define freelist	0
-
+/* index of free-list header (after the predefined values) */
+#define freelist	(LUA_RIDX_LAST + 1)
 
+/*
+** The previously freed references form a linked list:
+** t[freelist] is the index of a first free index, or zero if list is
+** empty; t[t[freelist]] is the index of the second element; etc.
+*/
 LUALIB_API int luaL_ref (lua_State *L, int t) {
   int ref;
   if (lua_isnil(L, -1)) {
@@ -650,9 +654,16 @@ LUALIB_API int luaL_ref (lua_State *L, int t) {
     return LUA_REFNIL;  /* 'nil' has a unique fixed reference */
   }
   t = lua_absindex(L, t);
-  lua_rawgeti(L, t, freelist);  /* get first free element */
-  ref = (int)lua_tointeger(L, -1);  /* ref = t[freelist] */
-  lua_pop(L, 1);  /* remove it from stack */
+  if (lua_rawgeti(L, t, freelist) == LUA_TNIL) {  /* first access? */
+    ref = 0;  /* list is empty */
+    lua_pushinteger(L, 0);  /* initialize as an empty list */
+    lua_rawseti(L, t, freelist);  /* ref = t[freelist] = 0 */
+  }
+  else {  /* already initialized */
+    lua_assert(lua_isinteger(L, -1));
+    ref = (int)lua_tointeger(L, -1);  /* ref = t[freelist] */
+  }
+  lua_pop(L, 1);  /* remove element from stack */
   if (ref != 0) {  /* any free element? */
     lua_rawgeti(L, t, ref);  /* remove it from list */
     lua_rawseti(L, t, freelist);  /* (t[freelist] = t[ref]) */
@@ -668,6 +679,7 @@ LUALIB_API void luaL_unref (lua_State *L, int t, int ref) {
   if (ref >= 0) {
     t = lua_absindex(L, t);
     lua_rawgeti(L, t, freelist);
+    lua_assert(lua_isinteger(L, -1));
     lua_rawseti(L, t, ref);  /* t[ref] = t[freelist] */
     lua_pushinteger(L, ref);
     lua_rawseti(L, t, freelist);  /* t[freelist] = ref */