What is a Table?

The table. Tables are Lua's single built-in data structure, but don't let that simplicity fool you - they're incredibly powerful and versatile.

Think of a table as a container that can hold multiple pieces of information. Unlike the simple variables you've worked with so far (which store just one value), a table can store many values in an organized way.

Tables can be used in different ways depending on what you need. In this chapter, we'll focus on using tables as lists - ordered collections of items where you can store things like a shopping list, player scores, or inventory items.

-- A simple list of player names
players = {"Alice", "Bob", "Charlie"}

-- A list of scores
scores = {100, 85, 92, 78}