[Rd] Re: Default value for title in postscript()
Prof Brian Ripley
ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk
Thu Apr 24 19:56:16 MEST 2003
On Wed, 23 Apr 2003, Martin Maechler wrote:
>
> [ This really should have gone to R-devel instead of R-help.
> I'm now diverting -- and please leave off "R-help" when replying again.
> ]
>
> >>>>> "PaCo" == Patrick Connolly <p.connolly at hortresearch.co.nz>
> >>>>> on Wed, 23 Apr 2003 10:08:00 +1200 writes:
>
> PaCo> I like the fact that the postscript function enables
> PaCo> the possbiility of a more useful title than before.
> PaCo> However, I'd prefer the default to be the file name.
>
> PaCo> It's very simple for me to make my own postscript
> PaCo> function that does just that simply by setting title =
> PaCo> file. I always use onefile = TRUE, so it always works
> PaCo> (so far). However, I'm a little reluctant to do that
> PaCo> in case some future changes cause conflicts. I've
> PaCo> been warned off tinkering with .Internal
>
> PaCo> My question is: What is the tidiest way of doing such
> PaCo> a thing? Should I make a private function that calls
> PaCo> the standard postscript function,
>
> yes, your own function calling the standard high-level postscript(),
> not some low-level {.Internal(), .Call(), .C() or .For..... } --
> these all may be changed "without notice" !}
>
> PaCo> or should I go the whole hog and make an S4 type method to handle it?
>
> PaCo> Or would it be simpler for the standard function to be changed
>
> certainly simpler for you.. ;-)
>
> I tend to agree that a change might be useful --
> For the new default, I'd actually go further and propose
> something like (when file = "Rplots.ps")
>
> "Rplots.ps [from R 1.7.0]"
>
> PaCo> (assuming, of course, there aren't good reasons
> PaCo> against doing that)?
>
> Unfortunately, there's a good reason: back-compatibility.
> In spite of that, I do advocate a change.
I'm lost here!
Most people don't care what the title is, and I left it as previous
versions gave. Why would anyone want the title in the file to default to
the file name, which in any case defaults to something anodyne?
There's a general R principle here: the person who does the work gets to
choose the details. Patrick: if you had submitted a comprehensive patch,
you might have got to choose!
--
Brian D. Ripley, ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk
Professor of Applied Statistics, http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/
University of Oxford, Tel: +44 1865 272861 (self)
1 South Parks Road, +44 1865 272866 (PA)
Oxford OX1 3TG, UK Fax: +44 1865 272595
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