How do I remove functions in tables?
So I'm trying to learn a bit of object oriented programming and I couldn't find out how to do this: if I have a function in a table how can I stop it or remove it?
I tried doing this at first:
local a = {
b = function()
while wait(0.1) do
print('test')
end
end
}
a:b()
wait(2)
a.b = nil
but I found out that it wasn't working because it was stuck at the loop, so I did this:
local a = {
b = function()
while wait(0.1) do
print('test')
end
end
}
coroutine.resume(coroutine.create(function()
a:b()
end))
wait(2)
a.b = nil
but this didn't work too, so I have no idea what to do to remove or stop the function a.b
0
0
1 answer
If you want to start work in the background, use spawn not coroutine:
spawn(function()
a:b()
end)
Removing a property
Setting a.b = nil modifies a. It doesn't somehow cause the loop inside some function to stop.
Of course, doing that couldn't, because you can have multiple objects with the same function as a member:
local a = {f = function() end}
local b = {f = a.f}
a.f = nil
print(b.f) --> function: 0x165a720
Modifying a shouldn't somehow kill a loop on b:f().
Stopping a thread
You cannot force another "thread" to stop. Doing so is unsafe because the thread could be in the middle of some task you shouldn't interrupt -- if you interrupt it at that time, the world could be left in pieces.
Threads must voluntarily stop themselves.
Your thread has a while loop. Presumably, it shouldn't go forever if you want to stop it:
local obj = {
method = function(self)
while not self.stop do
print("test")
wait(0.1)
end
end
}
spawn(function()
obj:method()
end)
wait(2)
obj.stop = true
print("stopped")
Of course in this case, there's no reason to use a thread at all, since nothing is going on in the mean time:
local stop = tick() + 2
while tick() < stop do
print("test")
wait(0.1)
end
print("stopped")