The explanation is in the comments of the example. But I'll explain it here in more details.
$ and # evaluate the size of types at compile time and stores the result in the associated symbol. (Lofi is statically typed and that what gives it its performance).
For example:
text t="Hello World!";
has a symbol t associated with the text "Hello World!" during compilation.
So at compilation we can store the size of the text in the symbol information (along with its address) and use it elsewhere in the code whenever we reference the symbol t
At run time, the symbols no longer exist, so the execution does not have to lookup the symbols like (slow) interpreters do.
Arrays of text store the address of each text element, not the text itself. Because arrays are collections of items of the same size (two bytes in this case, which is exactly the result you get). Otherwise we would not be able to index an array element in O(1).
When we do:
text t[3]={"Hello","Joe","Infinitesimal"};
There is only a symbol for t. We do not have symbol information about the individual text elements.
The only way to know the size of a text element in this context is to evaluate it at run time. I could add an API function to do so, but I figured text manipulation in games is not of the highest priority (ROM is currently 94.8% full, so I have to be very selective), hence the Lofi implementation example.
Hope this helps.
