lua in a table to get another element of the same table - lua

Question

When creating an element in the table, I need to use another element that I created before in the same table. please help me with this.
local table = {
distance = 30.0,
last_distance = table.distance-10.0
}
I want to do the above operation but I can't, I think I need to use self or setmetatable but I don't know how to do it. and please don't give me answers like first create a value outside and then use it in the table, I don't want to do that.

Answer 1

Basic life advice
First of all: Don't call your table table. That will shadow the global table library. Call it t, tab, tabl, Table, table_, or actually give it a useful name, but don't call it table, or there'll be a big surprise when you try to access any table.* methods. Ideally, your linter should warn you about this.
Implementing it using hacks
Table constructors are equivalent to creating a table on the stack - there is no named local variable self or the like. It is likely possible that there is a hidden local variable accessible using debug.getlocal however:
$ lua
Lua 5.4.4 Copyright (C) 1994-2022 Lua.org, PUC-Rio
> function getlocals()
>> local i = 1; repeat local k, v = debug.getlocal(2, i); i = i + 1; print(k, v) until not k
>> t = {a = getlocals(), b = ()}
stdin:3: unexpected symbol near ')'
> function getlocals()
local i = 1; repeat local k, v = debug.getlocal(2, i); i = i + 1; print(k, v) until not k end
> t = {a = getlocals(), b = 2}
(temporary) table: 0x55e9181302d0
nil nil
> t
table: 0x55e9181302d0
Indeed, from basic testing it appears that this is even the first local inside the table constructor! However, it isn't quite as easy:
> local a = 1; local b = a; t = {a = getlocals(), b = 2}; print(b)
a 1
b 1
(temporary) table: 0x55e918130160
nil nil
1
Using extensive hacks, you might be able to write something that returns the currently constructed table most of the time (probably relying on the fact that it will usually be the last local). The following works:
function lastlocal()
local i = 0
local last
::next:: -- you could (and perhaps should) use a loop instead
i = i + 1
local k, v = debug.getlocal(2, i)
if v then
last = v
goto next
end
return last
end
from my basic testing, this works fine to obtain the table currently being constructed:
> function lastlocal()
local i = 0
local last
::next:: -- you could (and perhaps should) use a loop instead
i = i + 1
local k, v = debug.getlocal(2, i)
if v then
last = v
goto next
end
return last
end
> t = {a = 1, b = lastlocal().a}
> t.a
1
> t.b
1
Why you should not implement this using hacks
With all of this in mind: Don't ever do this. The purpose of this merely is to lead this ad absurdum. There are multiple reasons why this is horribly unreliable:
The order of execution of table constructor assignments is undefined. An optimizing interpreter like LuaJIT (and the PUC Lua implementation just as well) is free to reorder {a = 1, b = 2} to {b = 2, a = 1}.
Likewise, how table constructors are implemented internally is entirely undefined. There is no guarantee that the local variable actually exists and is the last one.
It is horribly inefficient and relies on the debug library for something other than debugging.
What's a metatable?
Metatables serve an entirely different purpose; you could dynamically generate derived fields like last_distance using them, but you can't use them to reference a table using a table constructor. Here's a basic example:
local t = {distance = 30}
setmetatable(t, {__index = function(self, k)
if k ~= "last_distance" then return nil end
return t.distance - 10 -- calculate `last_distance` & return it
end})
print(t.last_distance) -- 20
t.distance = 10
print(t.last_distance) -- 0
Back to the question
When creating an element in the table, I need to use another element that I created before in the same table.
The proper way to do this is to either (1) create a value outside of the table
local distance = 30
local last_distance = distance - 10
local tab = {distance = distance, last_distance = last_distance}
Perfectly readable, perfectly fine.
Or (2) first create a table with some properties, then add derived properties:
local tab = {distance = 30}
tab.last_distance = tab.distance - 10
as readable, as fine.
Both will be highly efficient; only micro-optimizations would be debatable (could (1) choose a better layout for the hashes by choosing the right insertion order? does it pre-allocate the right size (likely yes)? does (2) incur a penalty since it indexes tab to obtain tab.distance?), but none of this will likely ever matter.
I want to do the above operation but I can't, I think I need to use self or setmetatable but I don't know how to do it.
I have shown you:
How you can do it using egregious hacks and why you shouldn't.
How you can do something similar (derived attributes) using a metamethod.
and please don't give me answers like first create a value outside and then use it in the table, I don't want to do that.
This is the correct, idiomatic way to do this in Lua though. Your restriction seems arbitrary.