[R] Macros in R

[Greg Snow]

The FAQ does mention using a list (and I did not mean to imply that it
did not).  Personally I think it is a little soft on this point for the
following reasons:

1. It mentions lists at the very end, some users may read about the
assign function, think that that answers the question that they think
they have, and never read on to the end.
2. The phrase "often easier" seems a soft sell to me, like "consider
this", not "DO IT THIS WAY".
3. It does not point out any of the dangers of using assign and the
additional benefits of using lists.
4. The phrase "Here Be Dragons" is fun to say, and seeing it grabs
attention and gets people thinking (except maybe on September 19th,
International Talk Like a Pirate Day).

And the parenthetical remark on number 4 brings up the obvious addition
to the R Infrequently Asked Questions list:

Q: Aye, mateys, what be a pirate's favorite statistical package?
A: R, of course (but you need to pronounce it AAAARRRRR :-).

-- 
Gregory (Greg) L. Snow Ph.D.
Statistical Data Center
Intermountain Healthcare
greg.snow at intermountainmail.org
(801) 408-8111
 
 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Gabor Grothendieck [mailto:ggrothendieck at gmail.com] 
> Sent: Tuesday, February 27, 2007 12:11 PM
> To: Greg Snow
> Cc: Monika Kerekes; r-help at stat.math.ethz.ch
> Subject: Re: [R] Macros in R
> 
> The FAQ does mention your point already.
> 
> On 2/27/07, Greg Snow <Greg.Snow at intermountainmail.org> wrote:
> > Others have pointed you to the answer to your question, but both FAQ
> > 7.21 and the assign help page should really have a big 
> banner at the 
> > top saying "Here Be Dragons".
[snip]