In Lua, how should I handle a zero-based array index which comes from C?

Question

Within C code, I have an array and a zero-based index used to lookup within it, for example:

char * names[] = {"Apple", "Banana", "Carrot"};
char * name = names[index];

From an embedded Lua script, I have access to index via a getIndex() function and would like to replicate the array lookup. Is there an agreed on "best" method for doing this, given Lua's one-based arrays?

For example, I could create a Lua array with the same contents as my C array, but this would require adding 1 when indexing:

names = {"Apple", "Banana", "Carrot"}
name = names[getIndex() + 1]

Or, I could avoid the need to add 1 by using a more complex table, but this would break things like #names:

names = {[0] = "Apple", "Banana", "Carrot"}
name = names[getIndex()]

What approach is recommended?

Edit: Thank you for the answers so far. Unfortunately the solution of adding 1 to the index within the getIndex function is not always applicable. This is because in some cases indices are "well-known" - that is, it may be documented that an index of 0 means "Apple" and so on. In that situation, should one or the other of the above solutions be preferred, or is there a better alternative?

Edit 2: Thanks again for the answers and comments, they have really helped me think about this issue. I have realized that there may be two different scenarios in which the problem occurs, and the ideal solution may be different for each.

In the first case consider, for example, an array which may differ from time to time and an index which is simply relative to the current array. Indices have no meaning outside the code. Doug Currie and RBerteig are absolutely correct: the array should be 1-based and getIndex should contain a +1. As was mentioned, this allows the code on both the C and Lua sides to be idiomatic.

The second case involves indices which have meaning, and probably an array which is always the same. An extreme example would be where names contains "Zero", "One", "Two". In this case, the expected value for each index is well-known, and I feel that making the index on the Lua side one-based is unintuitive. I believe one of the other approaches should be preferred.

Answer 1

Use 1-based Lua tables, and bury the + 1 inside the getIndex function.