[Rd] V2.9.0 changes [Sec=Unclassified]

[Henrik Bengtsson]

On Wed, Jun 24, 2009 at 4:27 AM, Martin
Maechler<maechler at stat.math.ethz.ch> wrote:
>>>>>> "TR" == Troy Robertson <Troy.Robertson at aad.gov.au>
>>>>>>     on Wed, 24 Jun 2009 16:35:29 +1000 writes:
>
>    TR> Yes, I had looked at R.oo, S4 and proto before beginning coding. I had initially assumed that S4 was an enhancement of or replacement to R.oo that was implemented at a lower level and had decided to go with the 'future' of OO in R.
>    TR> These assumptions were not necessarily correct.
>
> >From the view of the R core team,
> S4  *is* ``the future of OO in R''

...and until we're there, R.oo (S3) will do it for you.

/Henrik

>
> But then, as professional statisticians, we should consider the
> famous
>   >>> Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future <<
> attributed to Physics Nobel Prize winner Niels Bohr.
>
> ---
>
> Martin Maechler, ETH Zurich & R-core
>
>
>    TR> Troy
>
>    TR> Troy Robertson
>    TR> Database and Computing Support Provider
>    TR> Southern Ocean Ecosystems, ERM/Fish
>    TR> Australian Antarctic Division
>    TR> Channel Highway, Kingston 7050
>    TR> PH: 03 62323571
>    TR> Troy.Robertson at aad.gov.au
>
>
>    >> -----Original Message-----
>    >> From: Antonio, Fabio Di Narzo [mailto:antonio.fabio at gmail.com]
>    >> Sent: Tuesday, 23 June 2009 6:22 PM
>    >> To: Troy Robertson
>    >> Cc: r-devel at R-project.org
>    >> Subject: Re: [Rd] V2.9.0 changes [Sec=Unclassified]
>    >>
>    >> Not a direct answer to your question, but...
>    >> You might consider using the R.oo package, from H. Bengtsson. It's
>    >> very stable, written in pure R, and cleanly allows you to do
>    >> pass-by-reference OO programming, with no tricks.
>    >>
>    >> HTH,
>    >> af
>    >>
>    >> 2009/6/23 Troy Robertson <Troy.Robertson at aad.gov.au>:
>    >> > Hi all,
>    >> >
>    >> >
>    >> >
>    >> > Prefix: I am a frustrated Java coder in R.
>    >> >
>    >> >
>    >> >
>    >> > I am coding a medium sized ecosystem modelling program in R.  I have
>    >> changed to using S4 objects and it has cost me an order of magnitude in
>    >> execution speed over the functional model.  I cannot afford this penalty
>    >> and have found that it is the result of all the passing-by-value of
>    >> objects.
>    >> >
>    >> >
>    >> >
>    >> > I see that you can now safely inherit from environment in V2.9.0.
>    >> >
>    >> > That got me all excited that I would now be able to pass objects by
>    >> reference.
>    >> >
>    >> >
>    >> >
>    >> > But...
>    >> >
>    >> > That doesn't seem to be the case.
>    >> >
>    >> > It only seem that passing an environment which holds the object allows
>    >> for pass-by-reference and that passing an object which inherits from
>    >> environment doesn't.
>    >> >
>    >> > Why is this the case, either an object inherits the properties of its
>    >> parent or it doesn't.
>    >> >
>    >> > Has anyone else had a play with this?  Or have I got it all wrong.
>    >> >
>    >> >
>    >> >
>    >> > I tried the below:
>    >> >
>    >> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>    >> -----------------
>    >> >
>    >> > setClass('foo', representation=representation(stuff='list',
>    >> bar='numeric'),
>    >> >
>    >> >                     prototype=list(stuff=list(), bar=0),
>    >> >
>    >> >                     contains='.environment')
>    >> >
>    >> >
>    >> >
>    >> > setGeneric('doit', function(.Object, newfoo='environment')
>    >> standardGeneric('doit'))
>    >> >
>    >> >
>    >> >
>    >> > setMethod('doit', 'foo', function(.Object, newfoo){newfoo at bar <- 10})
>    >> >
>    >> >
>    >> >
>    >> > z <- new('foo')
>    >> >
>    >> >
>    >> >
>    >> > z at stuff$x <- new('foo')
>    >> >
>    >> >
>    >> >
>    >> > doit(z,z at stuff$x)
>    >> >
>    >> >
>    >> >
>    >> > z at stuff$x at bar
>    >> >
>    >> >
>    >> >
>    >> > [1] 0
>    >> >
>    >> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>    >> ------------------
>    >> >
>    >> >
>    >> >
>    >> > Can anyone help with a better way of doing this.
>    >> >
>    >> > I'm trying to avoid all the indirection of packing and unpacking
>    >> environments for passing.
>    >> >
>    >> >
>    >> >
>    >> >
>    >> >
>    >> > Thanks heaps
>    >> >
>    >> > Troy
>    >> >
>
>    ..............
>
>
>    >> --
>    >> Antonio, Fabio Di Narzo
>    >> Ph.D. student at
>    >> Department of Statistical Sciences
>    >> University of Bologna, Italy
>    TR> ___________________________________________________________________________
>
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