[41.78.16] [all modes] [fix at end of report] Bug with WorldDictionaryReadable.lua output [severity: very low/cosmetic]

[storge]

NB: This issue is not game breaking and does not seem to affect the stability of the game.
NB2: This post contains a bugfix. 

(Scroll to the bottom for bugfix if tl;dr)

Version: 41.78.16
Affects all game modes. (single/multiplayer)

Reproduction steps:
1. save any game.

Issue description:
WorldDictionaryReadable.lua is currently not syntactically correct lua code and will error any code that attempts to load it:

> -- in lua repl
> worldDict = require("WorldDictionaryReadable")
error loading module 'WorldDictionaryReadable' from file './WorldDictionaryReadable.lua':
        ./WorldDictionaryReadable.lua:20356: '}' expected (to close '{' at line 20355) near '='
stack traceback:
        [C]: in ?
        [C]: in function 'require'
        stdin:1: in main chunk
        [C]: in ?
> dofile("WorldDictionaryReadable.lua")
WorldDictionaryReadable.lua:20356: '}' expected (to close '{' at line 20355) near '='
stack traceback:
        [C]: in function 'dofile'
        stdin:1: in main chunk
        [C]: in ?

This is due to the following generated section (e.g. from a save file of mine, note file continues before and after this section):
 

--[[ ---- OBJECTS ---- --]]
objects = {
	0 = "American Holly",
	1 = "Canadian Hemlock",
	2 = "Virginia Pine",
	3 = "Riverbirch",
	4 = "Cockspur Hawthorn",
	5 = "Dogwood",
	6 = "Carolina Silverbell",
	7 = "Yellowwood",
	8 = "Eastern Redbud",
	9 = "Redmaple",
	10 = "American Linden",
	11 = "Spicebush",
	12 = "Ninebark",
	13 = "Blueberry",
	14 = "Blackberry",
	15 = "Piedmont azalea",
	16 = "Arrowwood viburnum",
	17 = "Red chokeberry",
	18 = "Beautyberry",
	19 = "New jersey tea",
	20 = "Wild hydrangea",
	21 = "Shrubby St. John's wort",
	22 = "Butterfly Weed",
	23 = "Swamp Sunflower",
	24 = "Purple Coneflower",
	25 = "Joe-Pye Weed",
	26 = "Blazing Star",
	27 = "Wild Bergamot",
	28 = "White Beard-tongue",
	29 = "Ironweed",
	30 = "White Baneberry",
	31 = "Wild Columbine",
	32 = "Jack-in-the-pulpit",
	33 = "Wild Ginger",
	34 = "Wild Geranium",
	35 = "Alumroot",
	36 = "Wild Blue Phlox",
	37 = "Polemonium Reptans",
	38 = "Foamflower",
	39 = "Grass",
	40 = "Generic",
	41 = "Fern",
	42 = "CrackGrass",
	43 = "WallVines",
	44 = "WallCracks",
	45 = "Flowerbed",
}

Two things are wrong with this generated dump. 

1. The first, and minor issue which does not result in syntax errors, is that the generated table is 0-indexed and not 1-indexed which lua operates on.
2. The second, and major issue, is that Number = Value syntax directly is not possible in lua.  This is what's causing the loading errors.

-- lua requires this syntax for numerical indexes, so the section should look like this:
objects = {
 [1] = "American Holly",
 -- [...]
 [45] = "Flowerbed",
}

this file is generated by zombie.world.DictionaryData's saveAsText method.  Debugging the related string information (https://docs.oracle.com/javase/specs/jvms/se22/html/jvms-4.html#jvms-4.4.3) from the compiled class, one finds that the string being interpolated in this section of saveAsText's execution is:

"\t\u0001 = \"\u0001\",\u0001"

Which, when interpolated with a key of 0, a value of "American Holly" (without quotes), and a local system's newline (here we use "\n" for simplicity) would give an example of:

"\t0 = \"American Holly\",\n"

Which matches the currently syntactically erroneous lua file.

It should be:

"\t[\u0001] = \"\u0001\",\u0001"

which with the above example interpolation would give

"\t[0] = \"American Holly\",\n"

Which, along with some further knowledge of Java's instruction set allows us to arrive at our solution:

Fix (for the syntax errors):

The following relevant code inferred from DictionaryData's saveAsText method:

// zombie.world.DictionaryData
// nb: variable names are ad hoc based on my notes and may not represent those in actual The Indie Store codebases
public class DictionaryData {
  // [...]
  protected void saveAsText(String readableSaveFileName) throws IOException, WorldDictionaryException {
    // [...]
    // the foor loop is extrapolated based on my notes,
    //  in decompiled code this would show as a while(hasNext) called on an iterator.
    //   actual code may vary.  
    for(object in objectIdToNameMap) {
	  readableSaveWriter.write("\t" + object.getKey() + " = \"" + object.getValue() + "\"," + System.lineSeperator());
    }
    // [...]
}
/* N.B. The instantiation of the readableSaveWriter variable (a java.io.FileWriter instance) 
 *  on a java.io.File (opened on the readableSaveFileName argument) is omitted for brevity, as are any related
 *   try blocks or error handling, as that is beyond the scope of this report, and is all working perfectly well.
 */

Should be:
 

// zombie.world.DictionaryData
// nb: above comments in previous code-section apply, but are omitted for brevity
public class DictionaryData {
  // [...]
  protected void saveAsText(String readableSaveFileName) throws IOException, WorldDictionaryException {
    // [...]
    for(object in objectIdToNameMap) {
	  readableSaveWriter.write("\t[" + object.getKey() + "] = \"" + object.getValue() + "\"," + System.lineSeperator());
    }
    // [...]
}

 

Edited May 5 by storge
added that the context of the first code snippet is the current behavior of the code