Apropos names.
Peter Dalgaard BSA
p.dalgaard@biostat.ku.dk
21 Mar 1998 10:00:22 +0100
Ross Ihaka <ihaka@stat.auckland.ac.nz> writes:
>
> > Speaking of names. I've been thinking whether it would not at some
> > point be wise to introduce namespaces into R. This would pretty
> > obviously break a lot of S code, but it would also make it possible to
> > avoid a lot of silly problems such as naming one's variables c, t, pt,
> > df, rm, ...
> >
> > A plan that might work relatively smoothly could involve:
> >
> > - Separate functions from variables. We already do that to some extent
> > ("looking for object of mode function...") [At the same time, one
> > design, functions are just objects, etc., but really: Wouldn't it be
> > nicer to type view(ls) the few times you actually wanted to see its
> > contents?]
>
> This has been done in common lisp and it's ugly. Consider
>
> apply(x, 1, mean)
>
> How do we indicate that this is the function called mean rather
> than the non-function mean? The single namespace makes it much
> easier to think about functions as data.
Ugh. You're right. An even clearer bit of ugliness is
mean<-mean(x) # you'll be surprised at how many people will do that!
as.list(mean) # which one??
Hmm. Plan B:
class(c)<-"system"
class(ls)<-"system"
...
print.system<-function(...)warning(-something-)
"<-.system"<- function(...)error(-something-)
if you catch my drift?
--
O__ ---- Peter Dalgaard Blegdamsvej 3
c/ /'_ --- Dept. of Biostatistics 2200 Cph. N
(*) \(*) -- University of Copenhagen Denmark Ph: (+45) 35327918
~~~~~~~~~~ - (p.dalgaard@biostat.ku.dk) FAX: (+45) 35327907
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