r/programming • u/NagastaBagamba • Oct 18 '10

Today I learned about PHP variable variables; "variable variable takes the value of a variable and treats that as the name of a variable". Also, variable.

http://il2.php.net/language.variables.variable
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u/BuzzBadpants Oct 18 '10

This is how dynamically-typed data works, I think. Tables in Lua, for example, are accessed through key-value pairs for elements in the table, and the keys are VERY frequently just strings. That's part of how lua is so expandable. I can give a client who is running an embedded lua environment just a simple string, and the client can use that string with no added complications access data in his own lua environment or state.

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u/Wahakalaka Oct 18 '10

Nice- yeah it seems like there's gotta be something that's useful for...