On Wed, 2011-08-17 at 08:06 -0700, ivo welch wrote: > hi gavin---I am not even sure that it is a cairo bug, much less do I > know about the details where it sits. for all I know, it could be an > Apple problem. the "possible bug report" was not only for the cairo > package (what's the difference between a package and a library? in my > user R code, I invoke it as library(cairo)), but also for others who > may use it and be surprised when they run into the same issue, > wondering if it is their code, or a more general issue..
In the real world, libraries contain books. In the R world, libraries contain packages. In the same way that in the real world it would be silly and wrong to call a book a library, it is wrong to call an R package a library. The "thing" that resides on CRAN is the R *package* named Cairo. It works by making use of a general purpose *software* *library* called Cairo, details of which can be found here http://www.cairographics.org/ . I appreciate that the name of the `library()` function used to load packages for use is somewhat counter-intuitive, but there you go. There is talk of moving to a `use()` function to replace `library()`; when/if that happens, perhaps it will lessen the confusion. Even if you are not sure, the general advice is to email the maintainers. If there is nothing wrong and this is a quirk of fonts/system/OS etc then your archived email lives on via Google and may confuse others in the future. Giving package authors a chance to look at the problem is also common courtesy. The Posting Guide is clear in this regard: If the question relates to a contributed package , e.g., one downloaded from CRAN, try contacting the package maintainer first. Many people ignore this however. G > /iaw > > ---- > Ivo Welch (ivo.we...@gmail.com) > > > > > > On Wed, Aug 17, 2011 at 5:18 AM, Gavin Simpson <gavin.simp...@ucl.ac.uk> > wrote: > > On Tue, 2011-08-16 at 17:46 -0700, ivo welch wrote: > >> I think I found a bug in the Cairo library, plus weird behavior in > >> both the Cairo and the normal pdf device. The baseline of the spades > >> symbol seems to be off. This is easier to show than it is to explain. > >> The problem does not appear in the normal pdf device, which is why I > >> am guessing this is a Cairo bug. moreover, I cannot figure out why > >> three of the card symbols seem to be transparent, but the fourth is > >> not. this is the case for both the Cairo and the ordinary pdf > >> devices. > >> > >> I thought I would report it to the R wizards on this group... > > > > Why? One is expressly asked to address such problems with the package > > maintainer(s), especially if you feel there is a bug in the package. > > > > And whilst Martin M is potentially indisposed at UseR! 2011, I will > > mention that it is a *package* not a library when you refer to the R > > package Cario. If you had identified a bug in the Cairo *library* you > > should be reporting it upstream to the Cairo people: > > http://www.cairographics.org/ > > > > G > > > >> library(Cairo) > >> > >> clubs <- expression(symbol('\247')) > >> hearts <- expression(symbol('\250')) > >> diamonds <- expression(symbol('\251')) > >> spades <- expression(symbol('\252')) > >> csymbols <- c(clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades) > >> > >> CairoPDF(file = "cardsymbols.pdf") > >> > >> plot( 0, xlim=c(0,5), ylim=c(0,2), type="n" ) > >> clr <- c("black", "red", "red", "black") > >> for (i in 1:4) { > >> hline <- function( yloc, ... ) for (i in 1:length(yloc)) lines( > >> c(-1,6), c(yloc[i],yloc[i]), col="gray") > >> hline(0.9); hline(1.0); hline(1.1); hline(1.2) > >> text( i, 1, csymbols[i], col=clr[i], cex=5 ) > >> text( i, 0.5, csymbols[i], col=clr[i] ) > >> } > >> > >> dev.off() > >> > >> > >> > >> ---- > >> Ivo Welch (ivo.we...@gmail.com) > >> > >> ______________________________________________ > >> R-help@r-project.org mailing list > >> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help > >> PLEASE do read the posting guide > >> http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html > >> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code. > > > > -- > > %~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~% > > Dr. Gavin Simpson [t] +44 (0)20 7679 0522 > > ECRC, UCL Geography, [f] +44 (0)20 7679 0565 > > Pearson Building, [e] gavin.simpsonATNOSPAMucl.ac.uk > > Gower Street, London [w] http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucfagls/ > > UK. WC1E 6BT. [w] http://www.freshwaters.org.uk > > %~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~% > > > > -- %~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~% Dr. Gavin Simpson [t] +44 (0)20 7679 0522 ECRC, UCL Geography, [f] +44 (0)20 7679 0565 Pearson Building, [e] gavin.simpsonATNOSPAMucl.ac.uk Gower Street, London [w] http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucfagls/ UK. WC1E 6BT. [w] http://www.freshwaters.org.uk %~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~%~% ______________________________________________ R-help@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
