Is there a way to do this, to pick out a specific item (or multiple items) from a table? Instead of doing this obnoxious loop
for Index, Var in next, Table do
if Var == Something then
--Code
end
end
Which will cause lag spikes and use up lot's of memory because this line will be used a TON, especially when removing dead zombies from a table.
Also known as an array.
local tbl = {"boo","noob","nene"}
local certain = tbl[2]
print(certain)
noob
An array calls a specific item within a table without looping it.
If you do not know it's index then, it will still work
local rand = math.random(1,100)
local rand2 = math.random(1,100)
local tbl = {}
table.Insert(tbl,rand)
table.Insert(tbl,rand2)
if tbl[2] == 5 then
print("5 has been selected.")
end
It you are using an array then I would use a numeric loop it is much faster than using an iterator.
local function get(thing)
for i=1, #tbl do
if tbl[i] == thing then
-- code
end
end
end
Better still I would just use a key, value pair. You can also have parts as keys.
local part1 = Instance.new("Part")
local part2 = Instance.new("Part")
local tbl = {}
tbl[part1] = "this is part 1"
tbl[part2] = "this is part 2"
print(tbl[part1])
tbl[part1] = nil
print(tbl[part2])
print(tbl[part1])
You can use the MicroProfiler to better understand what is causing lag in your game.
Hope this helps.
Wow - just tested it and pairs and ipairs are almost twice as slow as just using a for loop. Why does Lua even include the ipairs function if it's worse than the thing it's meant to replace? EDIT - a slightly more fair comparison puts the difference at around 20% extra, but the point stands.
pairs/ipairs/next are more for iterating over dictionaries and there are more steps involved. A numeric loop is direct access to that element with minimal overhead.
What you want to do is index by a specific field. You might know this as a "dictionary" or a "hash table".
For example
players = {}
for i, v in pairs(game:GetService("Players"):GetPlayers()) do
players[v.Name] = v
end
Now if we want to get a player from their name, instead of doing this...
targetName = "Bob"
player = nil
for i, v in pairs(game:GetService("Players"):GetPlayers()) do
if v.Name == targetName then
player = v
break
end
end
...which is O(n), we can do this...
player = players[targetName]
...which is a constant time look up, regardless of how many elements are in your data structure.
It's not a great example but the idea is always the same. I'd make it more specific but you haven't given a lot to go on.
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3 comments
without knowing its index
wait nvm i have an idea
Okay