
Tables and Arrays
When working withstructured data
, use tables with named keys
for better performance
, readability
, and maintainability
Arrays are good
for lists of simple values, but tables are better
for complex structured data
These are just
Arrays have their own purpose and aren’t inherently bad; they just have different use cases
examples
to demonstrate faster data retrieval using tables versus arrays Arrays have their own purpose and aren’t inherently bad; they just have different use cases
Choosing Between Tables and Arrays
Tables arefaster
than arrays for data lookups because they use a hash map internally, providing constant time lookups, making them much more efficient
, especially for larger datasets
Arrays are
slower in lookups
due to linear time complexity , as they require looping through each element
until the value is found
for i
loops are generally faster than ipairs
or pairs
only arrays work with ipairs or for i loopsEfficient Data Structuring
When working with structured data, usenamed keys
in tables to improve readability
, clarity
, and performance
Named keys allow for
easier understanding
of what each field represents, and they also enable faster lookups
Arrays with indexed values are
harder to read and maintain
, and lookups are slower
, especially as the size of the data grows.