On Wed, Aug 31, 2005 at 09:30:37AM +0200, Martin Maechler wrote: > >>>>> "Robin" == Robin Hankin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >>>>> on Wed, 31 Aug 2005 08:09:15 +0100 writes: > > Robin> Hi it says in R-exts that > > 1) A method must have all the arguments of the generic, > including ... if the generic does. > > 2) A method must have arguments in exactly the same order as the generic. > > 3) A method should use the same defaults as the generic. > > > Robin> So, how come the arguments for rep() are (x, times, ...) and the > Robin> arguments > Robin> for rep.default() are (x, times, length.out, each, ...) ? > Shouldn't > Robin> these be the same? > > no. If they should be the same, the "R-exts" manual would use > a much shorter formulation than the carefully crafted points > 1--3 above!
Martin, sorry if I am pedantic, but is 2. above that clear? Suppose that the generic has arguments (a, b, ...). Then, if I want to add an argument 'X' to a method, the argument list (a, b, X, ...) for the method would be OK, right? But how about (a, X, b, ...) or (a, b, ..., X)? I guess that would be wrong (but I haven't checked; is it maybe ok?!). The point is: What does it mean that two lists "have arguments in exactly the same order", when one list is a proper subset of the other? Maybe one should add "The common arguments, except ..., must have exactly the same _position_ in the generic and the method." Göran ______________________________________________ R-devel@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel
