[R] Need Advice: Considering Converting a Package from S3 to S4

[Frank E Harrell Jr]

spencerg wrote:
> Hi, Terry:
> 
>      Thanks for the comments.  I too vastly prefer S3 to S4.  Your 

Me too.  My summary is this:

If you love computer science more than you value your own time, use S4.

Frank Harrell

> comparison is based on much greater experience than mine.
> 
>      Could you please check the link you sent?  I couldn't get it to work.
> 
>      Thanks again.
>      Spencer
> 
> Terry Therneau wrote:
>>  For 90 percent of what I do I strongly prefer the loose (S3) rather 
>> than the rigid (S4) classes.  So I'm closer to Rolf.  My summary of S4 
>> vs S3
>>  
>> A large increment in   1. nuisance to write
>>   2. difficulty to debug
>>   3. ability to write very obscure code   4. design
>>   Gain
>>   5. ability to direct automatic conversions
>>   6. validate the contents of a class object
>>     For simple objects 5 and 6 can be critical.  Consider a date for 
>> instance, which will often be turned into a character, added or 
>> subtracted as a numeric, plotted, etc.  Conversely, aspects of 1-4 are 
>> less worrisome for a simple object, particularly #4: I have a 
>> reasonable chance of "getting it right" the first time.
>>     For a complex object such as the result of a coxph fit       fit 
>> <- coxph(Surv(time, status) ~ age + sex + treatment)
>>
>> #5 makes no sense at all: as.numeric(fit)???  Number 4 and 6 are 
>> really hard;
>> after 15+ years of tuning I am still modifying the list of components 
>> in a coxph object.  I know more about the computational aspects of Cox 
>> models than almost anyone and still it's not enough.  Changes are 
>> harder with rigid classes.
>>
>>   With reference to #3 above, for your amusement, look at
>>      www.netfunny.com/rhf/jokes/98/May/straustrup.html
>> the key line (to me) being "..every C++ programmer feels bound by some 
>> mystic promise to use every damm element of the languange on every 
>> project..."
>>
>> Terry T.
>>
>> ______________________________________________
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>> PLEASE do read the posting guide 
>> http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
>> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>>
>>   
> 
> 


-- 
Frank E Harrell Jr   Professor and Chair           School of Medicine
                      Department of Biostatistics   Vanderbilt University