[nzzn]

Lua uses the table type to represent both dictionaries (hash tables) and arrays of values. This seems to have been predicated on keeping the language “simple” with a minimal number of defined types. A laudable goal.

However, arrays of a single type are just enormously common in applications. Support for arrays is pretty much ubiquitous in other languages, including ones that are in the same general dynamic space.

Internally Lua does treat arrays in their own pathway to keep performance reasonable. There is also some user facing special syntax for arrays. Arrays should be part of the core language — some learning overhead for the newcomer but worth it.

[ufo]

I think the real issue here is not whether there is a separate type for tables and arrays, but whether the arrays are homogenous (all elements must have the same type). In most dynamic languages, the arrays are heterogeneous. For example, Python has a separate array type, but if you want homogenous arrays you have to reach for something like numpy.