Minimum of a group

okay, so i am trying to make a tower defense game and I am pretty sure I can do most of the stuff I have planned, I just need a way to figure out the smallest number of a group so that I can make the towers decide which enemy is closest. I couldn't find anything in documentation as the min(a,b) function only applies to two numbers, and I need to be able to compare a lot. Is there any way for me to do so?

https://microstudio.dev/i/KingLauri200/collections/ https://microstudio.dev/i/Lunaryss/listlibrary/

You can extend the List / Array class. Or create your own class that inherits from List / Array and add methods there.

Here are examples using JavaScript. I think you can do the same in MicroScript (you add a method to the List class).

Here is sample code with a new class that has a list as a field and a method to find the closest point. You call it by passing the class / object with fields x and y. After executing the method, the distance to the closest object on the list is returned, as well as this object. Only place objects / classes on the list that have fields x and y.

ExtList = class 
  constructor = function()
    this.list = []
  end
  findMin = function( point )
    local m = 9999999999
    local obj = this.list[0]
    for e in this.list
      local dist_x =  e.x - point.x
      local dist_y  = e.y - point.y
      local dist = ( dist_x * dist_x ) + ( dist_y * dist_y )
      if dist < m then
        m = dist
        o = e
      end
    end
    return (object
       dist = m
       obj = o
    end)
  end
end

init = function()
  extList = new ExtList()
  for i = 1 to 10 
    extList.list.push( object x = random.next( 100 ) y = random.next(100) end )
  end
  m = extList.findMin( object x = 0 y = 0 end )
  print( "min dist = " + m.dist  )
end

Or, for just a function:

distance = function(a, b)
  return sqrt((a[0] - b[0]) ^ 2 + (a[1] - b[1]) ^ 2)
end

min_distance = function(target, coords)
  local min_dist = distance(target, coords[0])
  result = coords[0][2] or 0
  for coord in coords.slice(1)
    local dist = distance(target, coord)
    if dist < min_dist then
      min_dist = dist
      result = coord[2] or coords.indexOf(coord)
    end
  end
  return result
end

min_distance takes a target coordinate (the position of the tower) and a list of coordinates (the positions of the enemies). If the closest coordinate has a third element, it returns it, otherwise it returns the index of the closest coordinate.

> min_distance([0, 0], [[20, 0], [10, 0], [10, 10]])
1
> min_distance([0, 0], [[20, 0, "enemy1"], [10, 0, "enemy2"], [10, 10, "enemy3"]])
"enemy2"