[R] newbie Question on Generic and Method

[Greg Snow]

The generic is what the user calls, the method is what the generic calls.

For example, the "summary" function is a generic function, when you issue a command like summary(x) then the generic function looks at what type of object x is and calls the appropriate method which might be the summary.lm function, or the summary.default function (which are methods).

-- 
Gregory (Greg) L. Snow Ph.D.
Statistical Data Center
Intermountain Healthcare
greg.snow at imail.org
801.408.8111


> -----Original Message-----
> From: r-help-bounces at r-project.org [mailto:r-help-bounces at r-
> project.org] On Behalf Of Laura Smith
> Sent: Tuesday, February 08, 2011 7:59 PM
> To: r-help at r-project.org
> Subject: [R] newbie Question on Generic and Method
> 
> Hi!
> 
> Here is a newbie question, please:  what is the difference between a
> generic
> and a method?
> 
> Thanks,
> Laura
> 
> 	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]
> 
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