[R] Dots in function names

[Peter Dalgaard]

"Mike Prager" <Mike.Prager at noaa.gov> writes:

> Recent R function names seem to be using CaseOfTheLetters to mark words 
> rather than dots as was done previously.  Is the use of dots in function 
> names deprecated, or is that simply a style choice?  Will function names 
> with dots cause problems in future revisions?

Well, come the S4 revolution and dots will cause trouble no more...

The main reason dots have fallen from grace is that they cause
ambiguity in relation to S3 methods. In a nutshell: t.test is not a
transpose method for objects of class "test". Since we check S3
methods automatically,  it is problematic to keep track of things that
look like S3 methods without being so. Check out
.make_S3_methods_stop_list() (in the tools package).

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