[R] A question about R environment

[François Pinard]

[Philippe Grosjean]

>Please, don't reinvent the wheel: putting functions in a dedicated 
>environment is one of the things done by R packages (together with a 
>good documentation of the function, and making them easily installable 
>on any R implementation).

>[...] this is probably the time for you to read the "Writing 
>R extensions" manual, and to start implementing your own R package!

Hi, Philippe, and gang!

I read this manual long ago and used it to create packages already.  You 
really got the impression I did not read it? :-)

You know, there are small wheels, and huge wheels.  I do not see why 
I would use complex devices for tiny problems, merely because those 
complex devices exist.  R packages undoubtedly have their virtues, of 
course.  But just like many statistical tests, they do not always apply.

Why go at length organising package directories populated with many 
files, resorting to initialisation scripts, using package validators,
creating documentation files and processing them, go through the cycle 
of creating a package and installing it, all that merely for a few small 
quickies that fit very well in the ubiquitous .Rprofile file?  Why worry 
about installation on any R implementation, for little things only meant 
for myself, and too simple to warrant publication anyway?

                                        Keep happy, all.

-- 
François Pinard   http://pinard.progiciels-bpi.ca