[Rd] S4: what to put in initialize, validity and constructor?

[Oleg Sklyar]

cgenolin at u-paris10.fr wrote:
> 
>> Do not change initialize!
> 
> As I sat, this is a toy example. In my real example, initialize does a 
> lot of things like calculation of quality indice (b is not the scare of 
> a, but B1, B2 and B3 are the the within matrix of A after imputation 
> with 3 differents methods), giving names to some matrix column and so 
> on. So I seams costfull to not use an initialize.

This all can be done in one of the constructors, which is then called by 
the other, as in my example below. I do not see a contradiction.


> 
>> Define constructors:
>>
>> setGeneric("A", function(a,b,...) standardGeneric("A"))
>>
>> setMethod("A", signature(a="missing",b="missing"),
>>  function(a,b,...) A(as.numeric(1:10),...) ## calls the one below
>> )
>>
>> setMethod("A", signature(a="A",b="missing"),
>>  function(a,b,...) a
>> )
>>
>> setMethod("A", signature(a="ANY",b="ANY"),
>>  function(a,b,...) new("A",a=as.numeric(a),b=as.numeric(b),...)
>> )
>>
>> setMethod("A", signature(a="ANY",b="missing"),
>>  function(a,b,...) A(a,a,...) ## Calls the one above
>> )
>>
>> etc.
>>
>> In words:
>> 1) validity should return a character in case of errors
>> 2) default initializer usually does the job
>> 3) define constructors as methods to allow different signatures and
>>   conversions from other classes
>> 4) If you derive your class from numeric, rather than add slots,
>>   the performance will be much better and you will get default
>>   behaviour of numeric, i.e.
>>
>> setClass("A",
>>  representatiom("numeric", b="numeric") etc
>>
>> Dr Oleg Sklyar
>> Technology Group
>> Man Investments Ltd
>> +44 (0)20 7144 3803
>> osklyar at maninvestments.com
>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: r-devel-bounces at r-project.org
>>> [mailto:r-devel-bounces at r-project.org] On Behalf Of
>>> cgenolin at u-paris10.fr
>>> Sent: 02 May 2008 15:41
>>> To: r-devel at r-project.org
>>> Subject: [Rd] S4: what to put in initialize, validity and constructor?
>>>
>>> Hi the list,
>>>
>>> I have some trouble using validity, intialize and the
>>> constructor. More precisely, what should go where?
>>> Here is a toy exemple (seams long, but the code is very simple):
>>>
>>> I want to define an object with two slots a and b with the
>>> properties that b will be either empty or the scare of a.
>>> Example of valid object :
>>>   a=  b=
>>>   a=2 b=
>>>   a=3 b=9
>>>
>>> So I define my object and the validity function :
>>>
>>> setClass(
>>>     "A",
>>>     representation(a="numeric",b="numeric"),
>>>     validity=function(object){
>>>         cat("Validity\n")
>>>         if(length(object at b)!=0){
>>>             if(length(object at a)==0){stop("Can not have empty
>>> a and non emty b")}else{}
>>>             if(object at a^2!=object at b){stop("b is not the scare
>>> of a")}else{}
>>>         }else{}
>>>         return(TRUE)
>>>     }
>>> )
>>>
>>> It works:
>>>
>>> new("A")
>>> new("A",a=2,b=4)
>>> try(new("A",b=4))
>>> new("A",a=2)
>>> try(new("A",a=2,b=3))
>>>
>>>
>>> Then I define the initialize function. When b is givent but
>>> not a, the initialise function set a to sqrt(b).
>>>
>>> setMethod(
>>>     "initialize",
>>>     "A",
>>>     function(.Object,a,b){
>>>         if(missing(a)&!missing(b)){
>>>             .Object at b <- b
>>>             .Object at a <- sqrt(b)
>>>         }else{}
>>>         if(!missing(a)&missing(b)){
>>>             .Object at a <- a
>>>         }else{}
>>>         if(!missing(a)&!missing(b)){
>>>             .Object at a <- a
>>>             .Object at b <- b
>>>         }else{}
>>>         validObject(.Object)
>>>     return(.Object)
>>>     }
>>> )
>>>
>>> It is fine:
>>>
>>> new("A")
>>> new("A",a=2,b=4)
>>> new("A",b=9)
>>> new("A",a=2)
>>> try(new("A",a=2,b=3))
>>>
>>>
>>> Then I want to set the constructor
>>>
>>> A <- function(a,b){
>>>     return(new("A",a,b))
>>> }
>>>
>>> But this does not work:
>>> A()
>>> A(a=2,b=4)
>>> A(b=9)
>>> A(a=2)
>>>
>>>
>>> The following does not work either:
>>>
>>> A <- function(a=numeric(),b=numeric()){
>>>     return(new("A",a,b))
>>> }
>>>
>>> A()
>>> A(a=2,b=4)
>>> A(b=9)
>>> A(a=2)
>>>
>>> So is there a way to define the constructor A without dealing
>>> again with all the missing&missing staff like in initialize?
>>>
>>> Christophe
>>>
>>> ______________________________________________
>>> R-devel at r-project.org mailing list
>>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel
>>>
>>
>>
>> **********************************************************************
>> The contents of this email are for the named addressee(s) only.
>> It contains information which may be confidential and privileged.
>> If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender
>> immediately, destroy this email and any attachments and do not
>> otherwise disclose or use them. Email transmission is not a
>> secure method of communication and Man Investments cannot accept
>> responsibility for the completeness or accuracy of this email or
>> any attachments. Whilst Man Investments makes every effort to keep
>> its network free from viruses, it does not accept responsibility
>> for any computer virus which might be transferred by way of this
>> email or any attachments. This email does not constitute a request,
>> offer, recommendation or solicitation of any kind to buy, subscribe,
>> sell or redeem any investment instruments or to perform other such
>> transactions of any kind. Man Investments reserves the right to
>> monitor, record and retain all electronic communications through
>> its network to ensure the integrity of its systems, for record
>> keeping and regulatory purposes.
>>
>> Visit us at: www.maninvestments.com
>>
>> **********************************************************************
>>
>>
> 
> ______________________________________________
> R-devel at r-project.org mailing list
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel

-- 
Dr Oleg Sklyar * EBI-EMBL, Cambridge CB10 1SD, UK * +44-1223-494466