[Bioc-devel] annotation() to BiocGenerics?

[Martin Morgan]

On 09/21/2012 09:26 AM, Robert Castelo wrote:
> hi Martin,
>
> On 09/21/2012 05:59 PM, Martin Morgan wrote:
>> On 09/21/2012 05:05 AM, Benilton Carvalho wrote:
>>> Replace
>>>
>>> Biobase::`annotation<-`(eScoEset, "")
>>>
>>> by
>>>
>>> Biobase::`annotation<-`(eScoEset, value="")
>>
>> why not just
>>
>> annotation(eScoEset) <- ""
>>
>> with importFrom(Biobase, "annotation<-") in the NAMESPACE?
>
> well, my understanding of the general policy to use classes and methods
> defined in other packages is that i should *always* "import" them in the
> NAMESPACE file.
>
> however, somehow i feel more comfortable using this pkg::f() idiom when
> i call something defined somewhere else because just reading the code i
> know immediately where imported things come from.
>
> is there any reason related to performance, correctness or coding style
> by which you think i should not do it?

I was more struck by this usage

   eScoEset <- Biobase::`annotation<-`(eScoEset, "")

which I would have written, if following your preferred style,

   Biobase::annotation(eScoEset) <- ""

(I personally would have written annotation(eScoEset) <- "").

There is a performance difference (:: is a function call, and there are 
several symbol look-ups involved) but I doubt that would be a serious 
concern in a seldom-used function (different, though if this were called 
in a large loop).

There is a subtle issue relevant to S4, though the implementation of 
annotation<- shields you from this -- note how the following changes the 
value of 'b' as well as 'a'

 > setClass("A", representation(value="numeric"))
 > a <- b <- new("A", value=1)
 > `slot<-`(a, "value", value=2)
An object of class "A"
Slot "value":
[1] 2

 > b
An object of class "A"
Slot "value":
[1] 2

which does not occur for slot(a, "value") <- 2

For what it's worth, the reason for your code breakage is that the 
signature of annotation<- changed from function(object, value) to 
function(object, ..., value). This is desirable because it allows 
methods to define additional arguments to the replacement function, and 
does not break the replacement method when used as annotation(eScoEset) 
<- "" (replacement methods match the right hand side to the last 
argument) but obviously caused problems for your approach.

Martin

>
> thanks,
> robert.


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