Hi,

 

I have noticed that there is a change in the use of ellipses or . in R
versions 2.6.1 and later.  In versions 2.5.1 and earlier, the . were always
at the end of the argument list, but in 2.6.1 they are placed after the main
arguments and before method control arguments.  This results in the user
having to specify the exact (complete) names of the control arguments, i.e.
partial matching is not allowed.  

 

An example with integrate() : 

 

> integrate(function(x) exp(-x^2), lower=-Inf, upper=L, subdiv=1000)

 

Error in f(x, ...) : unused argument(s) (subdiv = 1000)

 

> integrate(function(x) exp(-x^2), lower=-Inf, upper=L, subdivisions=1000)

 

1.633051 with absolute error < 1.6e-06

 

 

Here is an example with optim():

 

> res <- optim(50, fw, meth="BFGS", control=list(maxit=20000, temp=20,
parscale=20)) 

 

Error in fn(par, ...) : unused argument(s) (meth = "BFGS")

 

 

FYI, I am using R version 2.6.1 on Windows XP.

 

May I ask what the rationale behind this change is and also about the pros
and cons of the two different ways of specifying (.)?

 

Thank you very much.

 

Best,

Ravi.

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Ravi Varadhan, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, The Center on Aging and Health

Division of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology 

Johns Hopkins University

Ph: (410) 502-2619

Fax: (410) 614-9625

Email: rvaradhan@jhmi.edu

Webpage:  http://www.jhsph.edu/agingandhealth/People/Faculty/Varadhan.html

 

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