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Datatypes

What is a Datatype?

A datatype is something that represents a set of possible values. When you're sending something across the network with light, you'll need to define what you want that thing to look like. Light has a lot of tools for doing just that, but here's an example of one of the primitive number Datatypes:

local u8 = light.datatypes.u8

The prefix u indicates the number should be an "unsigned integer"; a whole number greater than zero. The number to the right, 8, is the number of "bits"1 the value will take up across the network. A u8 represents a value between 0 and 255

Lying to luau

Generally, places where you see Datatype<T> in these docs, you will only see T or a type in your editor. Generally, this avoids causing problems with Luau's type system.


  1. 8 bits is also known as a byte. local bytes = bits // 8 & local bits = 8·bytes