Re: [Rd] Is it possible to simply the use of NULL slots (or at least improve the help files)?
I did ?"NULL at the command line and was lead to ?"NULL-class" and the
BasicClasses help page in the methods package.
getClass("NULL"), getClass("character") show that these objects are unrelated,
so a class union is the way to define a class that is the union of these. The
essence of the behavior you would like is
setClassUnion("character_OR_NULL", c("character", "NULL"))
.A = setClass("A", slots = c(x = "character_OR_NULL"))
with
> .A(x = NULL)
An object of class "A"
Slot "x":
NULL
> .A(x = month.abb)
An object of class "A"
Slot "x":
[1] "Jan" "Feb" "Mar" "Apr" "May" "Jun" "Jul" "Aug" "Sep" "Oct" "Nov" "Dec"
> .A(x = 1:5)
Error in validObject(.Object) :
invalid class "A" object: invalid object for slot "x" in class "A": got class
"integer", should be or extend class "character_OR_NULL"
I understand there are situations where NULL is desired, perhaps to indicate
'not yet initialized' and distinct from character(0) or NA_character_, but want
to mention those often appropriate alternatives.
With
setClassUnion("maybeNumber", c("numeric", "logical"))
every instance of numeric _is_ a maybeNumber, e.g.,
> is(1, "maybeNumber")
[1] TRUE
> is(1L, "maybeNumber")
[1] TRUE
> is(numeric(), "maybeNumber")
[1] TRUE
> is(NA_integer_, "maybeNumber")
[1] TRUE
which I think is consistent with the use of 'superclass' on the setClassUnion
help page.
Martin Morgan
On 9/23/20, 5:20 PM, "R-devel on behalf of Abby Spurdle"
wrote:
As far as I can tell, there's no trivial way to set arbitrary S4 slots to
NULL.
Most of the online examples I can find, use setClassUnion and are
about 10 years old.
Which, in my opinion, is defective.
There's nothing "robust" about making something that should be
trivially simple, really complicated.
Maybe there is a simpler way, and I just haven't worked it out, yet.
But either way, could the documentation for the methods package be improved?
I can find any obvious info on NULL slots:
Introduction
Classes
Classes_Details
setClass
slot
Again, maybe I missed it.
Even setClassUnion, which is what's used in the online examples,
doesn't contain a NULL slot example.
One more thing:
The help file for setClassUnion, uses the term "superclass", incorrectly.
Its examples include the following:
setClassUnion("maybeNumber", c("numeric", "logical"))
If maybeNumber was the superclass of numeric, then every instance of
numeric would also be an instance of maybeNumber...
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[Rd] bquote doc and splicing data frames
Dear r-devel,
The doc of bquote doesn't describe what inputs are allowed in `..()`, it
says :
*terms wrapped in ..() are evaluated and spliced into a call.*
I think "terms" is not clear enough, it might make the user think that
several arguments are possible, and the fact that `..()` (and `.()` as well
for that matter) ignores silently arguments after the first doesn't help.
The examples show us the usage with an expression.
exprs <- expression(x <- 1, y <- 2, x + y)
bquote(function() {..(exprs)}, splice = TRUE)
In fact any object satisfying `is.vector()` will work.
Which brings me to my second and main point. `..()` will work on standard
lists but not on data.frames. Is there a good reason for that ? It is handy
indeed to splice data frames:
x <- head(cars,3)
bquote(pmax(..(x)), splice = TRUE)
#> Error in unquote.list(e) : can only splice vectors
x <- as.list(x)
bquote(pmax(..(as.list(x))), splice = TRUE)
#> pmax(speed = c(4, 4, 7), dist = c(2, 10, 4))
Best,
Antoine
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Re: [Rd] Is it possible to simply the use of NULL slots (or at least improve the help files)?
Hi Martin,
Thankyou for your response.
I suspect that we're not going to agree on the main point.
Making it trivially simple (as say Java) to set slots to NULL.
So, I'll move on to the other points here.
***Note that cited text uses excerpts only.***
> setClassUnion("character_OR_NULL", c("character", "NULL"))
> A = setClass("A", slots = c(x = "character_OR_NULL"))
I think the above construct needs to be documented much more clearly.
i.e. In the introductory and details pages for S4 classes.
This is something that many people will want to do.
And BasicClasses or NULL-class, are not the most obvious place to
start looking, either.
Also, I'd recommend the S4 authors, go one step further.
Include character_OR_NULL, numeric_OR_NULL, etc, or something similar,
in S4's predefined basic classes.
Otherwise, contributed packages will (eventually) end up with hundreds
of copies of these.
> setClassUnion("maybeNumber", c("numeric", "logical"))
> every instance of numeric _is_ a maybeNumber, e.g.,
> > is(1, "maybeNumber")
> [1] TRUE
> which I think is consistent with the use of 'superclass'
Not quite.
x <- structure (sqrt (37), class = c ("sqrt.prime", "numeric") )
is (x, "numeric") #TRUE
is (x, "maybeNumber") #FALSE
So now, an object x, is a numeric but not a maybeNumber.
Perhaps a class union should be described as a partial imitation of a
superclass, for the purpose of making slots more flexible.
B.
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Re: [Rd] Is it possible to simply the use of NULL slots (or at least improve the help files)?
Answering to convey the 'rules' as I know them, rather than to address the
underlying issues that I guess you are really after...
The S4 practice is to use setOldClass() to explicitly treat an S3 character()
vector of classes as an assertion of linear inheritance
> x <- structure (sqrt (37), class = c ("sqrt.prime", "numeric") )
> is(x, "maybeNumber")
[1] FALSE
> setOldClass(class(x))
> is(x, "maybeNumber")
[1] TRUE
There are some quite amusing things that can go on with S3 classes, since the
class attribute is just a character vector. So
> x <- structure ("September", class = c ("sqrt.prime", "numeric") )
> is(x, "numeric") ## similarly, inherits()
[1] TRUE
> x <- structure (1, class = c ("numeric", "character"))
> is(x, "numeric")
[1] TRUE
> is(x, "character")
[1] TRUE
Perhaps the looseness of the S3 system motivated the use of setOldClass() for
anything more than assertion of simple relationships? At least in this context
setOldClass() provides some type checking sanity
> setOldClass(c("character", "numeric"))
Error in setOldClass(c("character", "numeric")) :
inconsistent old-style class information for "character"; the class is
defined but does not extend "numeric" and is not valid as the data part
In addition: Warning message:
In .validDataPartClass(cl, where, dataPartClass) :
more than one possible class for the data part: using "numeric" rather than
"character"
Martin Morgan
On 9/24/20, 4:51 PM, "Abby Spurdle" wrote:
Hi Martin,
Thankyou for your response.
I suspect that we're not going to agree on the main point.
Making it trivially simple (as say Java) to set slots to NULL.
So, I'll move on to the other points here.
***Note that cited text uses excerpts only.***
> setClassUnion("character_OR_NULL", c("character", "NULL"))
> A = setClass("A", slots = c(x = "character_OR_NULL"))
I think the above construct needs to be documented much more clearly.
i.e. In the introductory and details pages for S4 classes.
This is something that many people will want to do.
And BasicClasses or NULL-class, are not the most obvious place to
start looking, either.
Also, I'd recommend the S4 authors, go one step further.
Include character_OR_NULL, numeric_OR_NULL, etc, or something similar,
in S4's predefined basic classes.
Otherwise, contributed packages will (eventually) end up with hundreds
of copies of these.
> setClassUnion("maybeNumber", c("numeric", "logical"))
> every instance of numeric _is_ a maybeNumber, e.g.,
> > is(1, "maybeNumber")
> [1] TRUE
> which I think is consistent with the use of 'superclass'
Not quite.
x <- structure (sqrt (37), class = c ("sqrt.prime", "numeric") )
is (x, "numeric") #TRUE
is (x, "maybeNumber") #FALSE
So now, an object x, is a numeric but not a maybeNumber.
Perhaps a class union should be described as a partial imitation of a
superclass, for the purpose of making slots more flexible.
B.
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Re: [Rd] Is it possible to simply the use of NULL slots (or at least improve the help files)?
It seems one of the primary reasons to use the S4 system is *to be strict
about types.*
IMO the documentation is quite clear on this point, if NULL is not a
subclass of character, which it isn't because inherits(NULL, "character")
is FALSE then everything is behaving exactly as expected and documented.
Between making the calling function responsible for passing an object of
the correct type and setClassUnion, it doesn't seem that complicated to
handle the use case.
On Thu, Sep 24, 2020 at 5:26 PM Martin Morgan
wrote:
> Answering to convey the 'rules' as I know them, rather than to address the
> underlying issues that I guess you are really after...
>
> The S4 practice is to use setOldClass() to explicitly treat an S3
> character() vector of classes as an assertion of linear inheritance
>
> > x <- structure (sqrt (37), class = c ("sqrt.prime", "numeric") )
> > is(x, "maybeNumber")
> [1] FALSE
> > setOldClass(class(x))
> > is(x, "maybeNumber")
> [1] TRUE
>
> There are some quite amusing things that can go on with S3 classes, since
> the class attribute is just a character vector. So
>
> > x <- structure ("September", class = c ("sqrt.prime", "numeric") )
> > is(x, "numeric") ## similarly, inherits()
> [1] TRUE
> > x <- structure (1, class = c ("numeric", "character"))
> > is(x, "numeric")
> [1] TRUE
> > is(x, "character")
> [1] TRUE
>
> Perhaps the looseness of the S3 system motivated the use of setOldClass()
> for anything more than assertion of simple relationships? At least in this
> context setOldClass() provides some type checking sanity
>
> > setOldClass(c("character", "numeric"))
> Error in setOldClass(c("character", "numeric")) :
> inconsistent old-style class information for "character"; the class is
> defined but does not extend "numeric" and is not valid as the data part
> In addition: Warning message:
> In .validDataPartClass(cl, where, dataPartClass) :
> more than one possible class for the data part: using "numeric" rather
> than "character"
>
> Martin Morgan
>
> On 9/24/20, 4:51 PM, "Abby Spurdle" wrote:
>
> Hi Martin,
> Thankyou for your response.
>
> I suspect that we're not going to agree on the main point.
> Making it trivially simple (as say Java) to set slots to NULL.
> So, I'll move on to the other points here.
>
> ***Note that cited text uses excerpts only.***
>
> > setClassUnion("character_OR_NULL", c("character", "NULL"))
> > A = setClass("A", slots = c(x = "character_OR_NULL"))
>
> I think the above construct needs to be documented much more clearly.
> i.e. In the introductory and details pages for S4 classes.
> This is something that many people will want to do.
> And BasicClasses or NULL-class, are not the most obvious place to
> start looking, either.
>
> Also, I'd recommend the S4 authors, go one step further.
> Include character_OR_NULL, numeric_OR_NULL, etc, or something similar,
> in S4's predefined basic classes.
> Otherwise, contributed packages will (eventually) end up with hundreds
> of copies of these.
>
> > setClassUnion("maybeNumber", c("numeric", "logical"))
> > every instance of numeric _is_ a maybeNumber, e.g.,
> > > is(1, "maybeNumber")
> > [1] TRUE
>
> > which I think is consistent with the use of 'superclass'
>
> Not quite.
>
> x <- structure (sqrt (37), class = c ("sqrt.prime", "numeric") )
> is (x, "numeric") #TRUE
> is (x, "maybeNumber") #FALSE
>
> So now, an object x, is a numeric but not a maybeNumber.
> Perhaps a class union should be described as a partial imitation of a
> superclass, for the purpose of making slots more flexible.
>
>
> B.
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>
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