[R] recommendations on use of -> operator

[Prof Brian Ripley]

-> is usually only used when you suddenly remember you wanted to keep 
result of a computation, especially in the days before command-line 
editors were universal.

fn(a,b) ... oh I'd better keep that ... -> z

On Thu, 18 Mar 2010, Dan Kelley wrote:

> I have never used   ->  but I noticed at
>
> 	http://github.com/jiho/r-utils/blob/master/beamer_colors.R
>
> that some people do.

> In fact, the above-named code has a sort of elegance about it 
(except 
for the use of "=" for assignment...).  To my eye,  ->   calls to mind a type of assignment that is meant to stand out.  For example, perhaps it would make sense to use  ->  to assign to things that are not expected to vary through the rest of the code block.
>
> Q1: is there a convention, informal or otherwise, on when to use the   ->   operator?
>
> Q2: if there is no convention, but if people think a convention might help, what would that convention be?
>
> Dan Kelley, PhD
> Professor and Graduate Coordinator
> Dept. Oceanography, Dalhousie University, Halifax NS B3H 4J1
> kelley.dan at gmail.com (1-minute path on US server) or Dan.Kelley at Dal.Ca (2-hour path on Cdn server)
> Phone 902 494 1694;  Fax  902 494 3877
>
>
>
>
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-- 
Brian D. Ripley,                  ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk
Professor of Applied Statistics,  http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/
University of Oxford,             Tel:  +44 1865 272861 (self)
1 South Parks Road,                     +44 1865 272866 (PA)
Oxford OX1 3TG, UK                Fax:  +44 1865 272595