[R] Re: Packages and Libraries

[A.J. Rossini]

Hm.  Everyone else got it (the reasons for the change).

The reason is that beginners often fail to get it (package vs.
library), and one of the contributing factors is the naming approach,
which isn't clear.  Certain people are rather sensitive to mistakes of
this nature, so we end up with 2-3 messages expressing frustration
because some people (who are sometimes asking otherwise reasonable
questions) aren't detail-oriented enough to suit.

Please read the rest of the thread, where the questions you ask are
covered (though whether on r-devel or r-help, I'm not sure, since my
mail is completely threaded).


On Wed, 09 Feb 2005 17:32:15 -0800, Spencer Graves
<spencer.graves at pdf.com> wrote:
>       The reasons to 'introduce "package()" and deprecate "library()"'
> may be OBVIOUS to you, but they completely escape me.  Could you please
> clarify why that's obvious?  I've seen many admonitions on this list
> that the term is "package" NOT "library", but I don't recall ever seeing
> any explanation of why the term "package" is more appropriate than
> "library".
> 
>       I suspect there may be some rationale that "package" seems more
> appropriately descriptive.  However, is it so much more precise that it
> justifies creating a distinction between S-Plus and R?
> 
>       Or is it your intention to make it harder for people who have to
> use S-Plus to also use R?  Or do you want to make it more difficult for
> people to write code that will work in both S-Plus and R or for people
> to migrate from S-Plus to R or vice versa?  Unless that is your intent,
> I'd like to know why you don't make the complementary change, namely
> globally replace "package" with "library" everywhere in the
> documentation -- or at least deprecate its future use.
> 
>       R is a marvelous creation, a solid contribution to the advancement
> of science and through that human knowledge and eventually even the
> ability of people everywhere to live more comfortably, longer.
> 
>       spencer graves
> 
> p.s.  I'm told that the French Royal Academy delayed the introduction in
> France of a product marketed by a US company.  The product couldn't be
> sold in France without a French language manual.  The translation could
> not be published until the French Royal Academy officially provided or
> blessed new French words for new technical terms.  Similarly, Le Monde
> Diplomatique recently carried an article proposing "A polyglot world to
> escape the English dictatorship."  (January 2005, pp. 22-23:  "Un monde
> polyglotte pour echapper a la dictature de l'anglais';  someone may wish
> to correct my translation.)  We could require all r-help subscribers to
> learn enough French, German, Spanish AND Portuguese to be able to read
> posts in those languages, but that might be counterproductive.
> 
> Peter Dalgaard wrote:
> 
> >"A.J. Rossini" <blindglobe at gmail.com> writes:
> >
> >
> >
> >>For OBVIOUS reasons, is there any chance that we could introduce
> >>"package()" and deprecate "library()"?
> >>
> >>
> >
> >usepackage() or usePackage() has been suggested, but someone got
> >ambitious and wanted it to be different from library(), and it sort of
> >didn't get any further. We still have some time before feature freeze
> >for 2.1.0 though.
> >
> >
> >
> >>(well, I'll also ask if we could deprecate "=" for assignment, but
> >>that's hopeless).
> >>
> >>
> >
> >You're not *forced* to use it...
> >
> >
> >
> 
> 


-- 
best,
-tony

"Commit early,commit often, and commit in a repository from which we can easily
roll-back your mistakes" (AJR, 4Jan05).

A.J. Rossini
blindglobe at gmail.com