[R] library() (was Adding labels to variables)

[Prof Brian Ripley]

Can I remind people to use a relevant subject line -- this has gone way 
off the original topic.

It is not proposed to just rename library() to usePackage() or similar.
The need is for a new interface to the loading of packages, one that
returns useful information in an object.  We also need to sort out the
mess of require() vs library(), especially as `require' does not actually
require its argument (and almost no one tests the return value).  I don't 
think it is going to make 2.0.0, though.

Incidentally, the section heading Bert Gunter quoted does not indicate 
that `library' is a synonym for `package', but that packages are installed 
into libraries.  In S, `library sections' are installed into libraries.

Spencer should be very happy that data() will be almost completely 
optional come 2.0.0: that's the R/S difference that most hurts writing 
common documentation in my experience.


On Wed, 25 Aug 2004, John Fox wrote:

> Dear Spencer et al.,
> 
> I agree with Spencer's point: It's one thing to introduce usePackage() and
> encourage its use, another to remove library().
> 
> Regards,
>  John
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: r-help-bounces at stat.math.ethz.ch 
> > [mailto:r-help-bounces at stat.math.ethz.ch] On Behalf Of Spencer Graves
> > Sent: Wednesday, August 25, 2004 9:03 PM
> > To: Peter Dalgaard
> > Cc: Mike Prager; R-help at stat.math.ethz.ch
> > Subject: Re: [R] Adding labels to variables
> > 
> >       Mon Dieu! 
> > 
> >       I realize that I'm not part of r-devel, but for what 
> > it's worth, I vastly prefer commands and programming styles 
> > that produce code that can run without change in both S-Plus 
> > and R.  Any move to obsolete in R a command commonly used in 
> > S-Plus would just make life more difficult for those of us 
> > who have to live in both the S-Plus and R worlds.  In my 
> > judgment, where S-Plus and R currently differ, there usually 
> > seems to be a good reason, and R is usually superior.  One 
> > example is the "log" 
> > options in the probability functions. 
> > 
> >       The suggestion to introduce "usePackage" and obsolete "library" 
> > reminds me of a 6 week delay in the introduction in France of 
> > a US automobile, because the French Royal Academy failed to 
> > produce without a substantial delay an official French word 
> > for a new technical term.  The automobile could not be sold 
> > without the User's Manual in French, and it could not be 
> > printed without the approval of the French Royal Academy for 
> > new words. 
> > 
> >       just my 2e-12 cents.  spencer graves
> > 
> > Peter Dalgaard wrote:
> > 
> > >"Mike Prager" <Mike.Prager at noaa.gov> writes:
> > >
> > >  
> > >
> > >>At 01:01 PM 08/25/2004, Raubertas, Richard wrote:
> > >>    
> > >>
> > >>>As long as the function to load a package is called *library*, I 
> > >>>think your campaign to change common usage is doomed to failure.
> > >>>      
> > >>>
> > >
> > >Who says it's common usage? It is of course a common fallacy 
> > to think 
> > >that everyone else makes the same mistakes as you do...
> > > 
> > >  
> > >
> > >>Yes, and it's also annoyingly hard to remember -- at least 
> > for those 
> > >>of us who don't eat, sleep, and breathe R.
> > >>    
> > >>
> > >
> > >There's a good chance that R-2.x will introduce usePackage() and 
> > >eventually remove library() as a tool for loading packages.
> > >
> > >  
> > >
> > 
> > ______________________________________________
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> > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> > PLEASE do read the posting guide! 
> > http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
> 
> ______________________________________________
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> 

-- 
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