[Rd] colours in dotchart (PR#4343)

[maechler at stat.math.ethz.ch]

>>>>> "UweL" == Uwe Ligges <ligges at statistik.uni-dortmund.de>
>>>>>     on Wed, 1 Oct 2003 11:33:40 +0200 (MET DST) writes:

   ...

    UweL> b) The argument "color" works for the points, but not so for their 
    UweL> labels. The proposal (by Ian) is to remove the loops. Does that break 
    UweL> anything? At least, I cannot imagine any point right now.
    >> 
    >> I think you (Ian & Uwe) have a good point here.
    >> This might (or may not) still go as a "trivial bug fix" for 1.8.0.
    >> {If you want to help, please try to use "diff -u" (or "diff -c")
    >> for a patch.. }
    >> But I first need to get my grips on dendrogram buggyness.
    >> 
    >> Martin

    UweL> So here's a proposal for dotchart.R

I have committed it just now as "simple bug fix" to "R
1.8.0beta".

    UweL> (Anyone who can imagine why the loop had been
    UweL> introduced? Are we breaking anything when rempoving
    UweL> the loop?):

dotchart() is a very old R function and has a peculiar history.
It was there in the very first R version I think I have ever
seen (Jul 1995, pre alpha, no version number) -- however with text() {and
no for()} there. Later it was renamed to dotplot() {I don't know
why} and in Apr 2001 was renamed *back* to dotchart() in order
not to resolve a naming conflict with the lattice dotplot()
function. 

Here is the revision text {for dotplot.R back then} where Ross
changed from   " text(....) "  to    " for(.....) mtext(....) "

>> Revision 1.3 , Tue May 5 08:39:30 1998 UTC (5 years, 4 months ago) by ihaka
>> Branch: MAIN
>> Changes since 1.2: +88 -79 lines
> 
>> Fixes to dotplot code.  Updates to mtext and text.

Now, the graphical argument recycling has been in R from early
on (as a clear improvement over S-plus!), too, but not as
consistently as it became around version 1.2 or so, and
particularly not with mtext().  Hence I assume , the change from
text() to mtext() needed to introduce the for() loop back then.

(so far the archeological/historical account from digging in old stuff ..)

Martin Maechler <maechler at stat.math.ethz.ch>	http://stat.ethz.ch/~maechler/
Seminar fuer Statistik, ETH-Zentrum  LEO C16	Leonhardstr. 27
ETH (Federal Inst. Technology)	8092 Zurich	SWITZERLAND
phone: x-41-1-632-3408		fax: ...-1228			<><