Table commands broken?

[Free Fall]

(I hope nobody really mind about this not being wiremod lua )

I got a small problem with some Table-Handling code. To better explain my problem, I created a small part of code:

function TestTables()
    local buffer = {}
    for i = 5,19 do
        buffer[i] = math.random(-20,20)
        Msg("Write "..buffer[i].." at position "..i.."\n")
    end
    Msg("Table contains now "..#buffer.." Entries\n")
    Msg("Those are:\n")
    for key,val in ipairs(buffer) do
        Msg("Key: "..key.. " Value: "..val.."\n")
    end
end
concommand.Add("TestTables",TestTables)

The result of it in console is following:

] TestTables 
Write 14 at position 5
Write 18 at position 6
Write 18 at position 7
Write 15 at position 8
Write 12 at position 9
Write -7 at position 10
Write -16 at position 11
Write -19 at position 12
Write 11 at position 13
Write 0 at position 14
Write -4 at position 15
Write 10 at position 16
Write 12 at position 17
Write -3 at position 18
Write 9 at position 19
Table contains now 19 Entries
Those are:

Now i wondered, why it shows 19 entries, when there are only 15, and why it doesn't show the content of the table at all. The keys are numbers, so lua should be able, using the "ipairs" command, to sort it, right?

What is up?!

[itsbth]

Both # and ipairs expect the table to start at 1.

[Free Fall]

How do i get the count of entries in a table then?

But the "Pairs" thing works better, yea. But i have one question: If i delete one entry in the table, the "for" command cycles through; what will it do? cycling through the left entries?

[itsbth]

#1 Why don't you start your tables at one?

#2 Just try it yourself and see what happens.

[Free Fall]

Why I don't start at one? That is easy to explain.
I want to have this for a transmitting wire thingy (Yes, my WSR). When values in some cells (Hi-Speed of course) change, the change has to be send. So I write that change into a change buffer. Then the Key is the cell-Address and the value is the value of the change.
I need to start wherever I want in the Table, to make it possible, to send single values in the right positions, and not the whole memory at once (, what could be a problem with 65565 cells, right? )

PS: Using an extra-counter variable and the "pairs" command instead of "ipairs" it magicly works. I'ma give some debug-outputs:

WriteCell called
WriteCell 16
Writing 444.5020905179 To the buffer at 16
Buffer contains now 1 entries
WriteCell called
WriteCell 17
Writing 344.9507126072 To the buffer at 17
Buffer contains now 2 entries
WriteCell called
WriteCell 18
Writing 61.06753746147 To the buffer at 18
Buffer contains now 3 entries
WriteCell called
WriteCell 19
Writing 935.23972289193 To the buffer at 19
Buffer contains now 4 entries
WriteCell called
WriteCell 20
Writing 920.43824579608 To the buffer at 20
Buffer contains now 5 entries
WriteCell called
WriteCell 21
Writing 615.98559526353 To the buffer at 21
Buffer contains now 6 entries
WriteCell called
WriteCell 22
Writing 653.43180639058 To the buffer at 22
Buffer contains now 7 entries
WriteCell called
WriteCell 23
Creating Message
Max Size: 512
Key: 19 Val: 935.23972289193
Additional: 19,1,935.23972289193
New Size: 38
Key: 16 Val: 444.5020905179
Additional: ,16,1,444.5020905179
New Size: 58
Key: 20 Val: 920.43824579608
Additional: ,20,1,920.43824579608
New Size: 79
Key: 17 Val: 344.9507126072
Additional: ,17,1,344.9507126072
New Size: 99
Key: 21 Val: 615.98559526353
Additional: ,21,1,615.98559526353
New Size: 120
Key: 18 Val: 61.06753746147
Additional: ,18,1,61.06753746147
New Size: 140
Key: 22 Val: 653.43180639058
Additional: ,22,1,653.43180639058
New Size: 161
HiMsg:49:ShareRAM:19,1,935.23972289193,16,1,444.5020905179,20,1,920.43824579608,17,1,344.9507126072,21,1,615.98559526353,18,1,61.06753746147,22,1,653.43180639058
----------------------
OwnPort: 27201
Message: HiMsg:49:ShareRAM:19,1,935.23972289193,16,1,444.5020905179,20,1,920.43824579608,17,1,344.9507126072,21,1,615.98559526353,18,1,61.06753746147,22,1,653.43180639058
msgType: HiMsg
Message: HiMsg:49:ShareRAM:19,1,935.23972289193,16,1,444.5020905179,20,1,920.43824579608,17,1,344.9507126072,21,1,615.98559526353,18,1,61.06753746147,22,1,653.43180639058
msgType: HiMsg
msgNum: 49
lastReceivedMsgNum: 48
msgDataType: ShareRAM
----------------------
OwnPort: 27200
Message: HiNull
msgType: HiNull

Any questions?

PSS: Thx for help though